2002 - Exeter College - University of Oxford

EXON 

THE EXETER COLLEGE MAGAZINE 

ISSUE 5 AUTUMN 2002 

WWW.EXETER.OX.AC.UK/ALUMNI 

A WALK TO THE MAGNETIC POLE 

THE ATRX SYNDROME 

IF YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HEAD 

FROM PIPER TO PARKER 

MISSION TO MARS 

EXETER COLLEGE CHOIR 

CD AVAILABLE SOON 

NEWS FROM OLD MEMBERS 

THE OTHER SIDE OF EDUCATION

Please order prints from G.R.Cornes@firstexposure.co.uk 

Left: Dennis Dyer and friends at the 1981- 

1983 Gaudy held in January 2002 

Below: Exeter has a colony of ducks. The 

MCR recently proposed that they should 

be made Fellows of the College as they 

appear to have the run of Front Quad. 

Governing Body has yet to respond to 

the MCR motion. 

2 EXON - Autumn 2002

Inside EXON 

EDITORIAL 

4 Exeter Correspondence 

5 Development News 

6 Going North 

Matt Coates (1998, Materials Science) has 

written a wonderfully evocative account of 

an expedition to the Magnetic North Pole 

15 The ATRX syndrome 

David Garrick’s tenure as the Staines Medical 

Research Fellow at Exeter College has just 

ended; he provides an insight into his 

research 

17 College has better chips 

A lot has changed since the heady days of 

the ZX81 

19 If you can keep your head 

Evoking Exeter’s colourful past 

21 From West Penrith to Orkney 

Fellow in English Helen Spencer exhibits 

her recent paintings 

21 Listen & Enjoy 

Exeter Music 

22 From Piper to Parker 

The JCR art collection 

23 The Lost Art of the JCR 

Please help us locate these missing pieces 

24 Mission to Mars 

Emily MacDonald has been selected from 

over 400 applicants world-wide to work at 

the Mars Society’s Flashline Mars Arctic 

Research Station (F-MARS) 

26 Roll of Honour 2002 

List of donors 

30 Exeter Gallery 

31 News from Old Members 

35 EXinfo 

36 Don’t call us, we will... 

Megan Shakeshaft (1998, Lit. Hum.) on the 

telethon 

38 Beautiful South 

Damian Taylor (2000, Jurisprudence) looks 

back on his first year at College 

40 Limited edition prints 

41 Particle Odyssey 

A new publication co-written by Frank Close, 

Professor of Physics at Exeter, takes the 

reader through a narrative history of 

subatomic particle physics from the discovery 

of X-rays to the present day. 

42 Focus on philanthropy 

The rationale behind our telephone campaign 

42 The other side of education 

Patrick Heinecke (1959, Modern languages) 

tells how his teaching career led to a remote 

village in West Africa. 

43 Prize crossword 2 

44 The Nevill Coghill poetry prize 

46 College Weddings 

Photographs of weddings at Exeter 

48 Events listing 

Editor: Dr Jonathan GC Snicker 

Opinions expressed in this publication are 

not necessarily those of Exeter College 

Printed by Printhaus, Northampton on elemental 

chlorine free Maine Club Gloss. This paper is 

manufactured from woodpulp sourced from 

sustainable forests 

Old Member News in brief 

(More news on page 31) 

Sarah Colvin (1986, Modern Languages) 

has recently written a new play. ‘Balance’ 

had its first reading at the Arches’ festival 

of new Scottish theatre on 6 March. 

Charles Cotton (1965, Physics) has been 

elected Executive Chairman of 

GlobespanVirata 

Elizabeth Crowther-Hunt (daughter of 

former Rector Lord Crowther-Hunt) formerly 

executive director of the Prince’s 

Trust was made an LVO (Royal Victorian 

Order) in the New Year Honours List 

David Hartnett (1971, English) is currently 

working on a screenplay of his first 

novel, Black Milk, set in an imaginary Jewish 

Ghetto during the Second World War 

Melissa Jones (1984, English) is now 

adapting her first novel, Cold in Earth, 

for the BBC. Her second novel is entitled 

Sick at Heart 

Hugh Kawharu (1957) has been appointed 

to the order of New Zealand 

Ben Moxham (1998, PPE) has won a 

Fulbright Scholarship to Harvard 

Philip Pullman (1965, English) won the 

Whitbread Book of the Year prize on 22 

January. Mr Pullman is represented by 

Caradoc King (1965, English) of the literary 

agency A P Watt. They met on their 

first day in College in October 1965 and 

have remained friends ever since 

Caleb Watts (1997, Mathematics & Philosophy) 

has won a Fulbright Scholarship 

to Harvard 

Alexander Wedderburn (1955, PPP) is 

president-elect of the British Psychological 

Society. He will be President from April 

2003. Heriot-Watt University has elected 

him Professor Emeritus. 

Michaelmas Term is 

upon us and another 

generation of 

Exonians is about to cross the 

threshold. In fact this generation 

will be crossing many 

thresholds: from school to university, 

from adolescence to 

adulthood (this isn’t guaranteed 

in all cases given the size of the 

sub-Rector’s fines fund), and 

from family home to the wider 

world. An exciting and uplifting 

time. 

For some, particularly those 

with limited financial means, it 

is also a disconcerting and stressful 

time. Recognising this, one 

of the main aims of the annual 

giving campaign since 1998 has 

been to alleviate student hardship 

at Exeter. Scores of students 

have by now been supported 

by the Old Members’ 

Fund. Thanks to the generosity 

of responses to our recent telephone 

campaign more 

Exonians can now be helped 

alongside support provided for 

the tutorial system (the areas for 

which most specified preferences 

were received). 

I hope that you enjoy this edition 

of Exon. I think it provides 

a sense of Exeter’s range 

as an institution, and as a community. 

Adventure and endeavour 

have emerged as dominant 

themes this year, but generosity 

of spirit and civility are also 

there in the background. The 

articles are all products of engaged 

individuals with enquiring 

minds, and as such they are part 

of a great Exeter tradition. 

Nicola Pulman and Tom 

Knollys have joined the development 

team. They look forward 

to hearing from you in the 

coming months. We are, of 

course, always happy to receive 

your ideas, comments and submissions 

for EXON. 

Dr Jonathan GC Snicker 

Director of Development 

EXON - Autumn 2002 

3

Dear Dr Snicker 

EXETER COLLEGE 

CORRESPONDENCE 

Iread the letter from P L Milton in the Michaelmas term EXTRA about a 

painting of the College barge by Kenneth Rowntree. It set me thinking. 

In ‘Oxford Today’ there are frequently advertisements offering reproductions 

of paintings of Oxford colleges; might it be possible to organise 

the production and sale of a reproduction of the painting of the College 

barge? 

Subsequent reflection has thrown up the following points: the cooperation 

of the Saffron Walden (Fry) Art Gallery would obviously be 

necessary and must first be investigated. The likely demand should also be 

investigated in advance; the number of Exonians with affection for the 

barge may be too limited. The price could perhaps be set to yield some 

contribution to the College or the ECBCA; it might be possible even at this 

late stage to assert the interest of the College in owning the painting (if this 

is the case) and to buy it from the gallery – which could in any case be 

presented with an example of the reproduction. 

If the College does not feel able to make the necessary 

funds available maybe there is an old member 

Exeter College Barge 

who would buy the painting and present it to the 

College. 

I should like to know if you think this idea is 

worth taking further. 

Rector 

Ithought you might like to glance 

at this and perhaps put to 

archives. I have the original. 

Three of my uncles were at Exeter 

during, before and after World War 

I. So this possibly dates just about 

1912/1913. But it could more 

probably be from the previous 

generation (Reginald Bellyse ex 

Harrow School). 

You notice the Sovereign and 

Military Order of Malta Galley Flag 

as used by ECBC. The 1st Eight also 

wore black boaters (like the tarred 

ones worn by Nelson’s navy) and it 

was said evolved the first “club tie” 

by using their boater ‘ribands’ as a 

distinctive loose necktie. 

Sincerely 

Garry Williams (1951, Theology, 

Modern History and Classics) 

Yours sincerely 

John Saunders (1954), Captain of Boats (1956-57) 

Editor’s note: The comments made in John Saunders’ letter 

were raised with the Fry Gallery, Bridge End Gardens, 

Castle Street, Saffron Walden CB10 1BD. Tel: 01799- 

513779 www.uttlesford.gov.uk/saffire/places/frygall 

The picture was bought for the Fry Art Gallery as 

Kenneth Rowntree lived in the area during the 2 nd World 

War. According to the family Exeter was one of the few colleges not to buy the painting 

of its barge when the series was exhibited twice in Oxford after being painted in the mid- 

1950s. The picture was one of two bought from the artist’s family after his death. 

So far the gallery has only suggested that they would be willing to cooperate over 

the production of a postcard reproduction of the paining. They have developed a sponsorship 

scheme whereby the sponsor pays for the production of 1000 cards and in return is 

given 250 of the cards. 

The painting is currently on display at the gallery, though it should be noted that 

the opening times are limited and the gallery is closed from the end of October to Easter. 

It is possible that the barge may not form part of the permanent exhibition next year but 

the gallery appears willing to facilitate access and could arrange a special opening of the 

gallery if there is interest. 

Dear Rector 

Ijust saw the 2002 Steamer 

Capital Scholar Michael 

Hugman off at the 

(Saskatoon) airport. He is a very 

impressive individual with a promising 

future ahead. We were delighted 

to spend time with him. 

Kind regards 

Henry Kloppenburg (1968, Jurisprudence) 


Dear Mr Collins (ECBCA) 

Thank you for the information about the ECBCA dinner. I am 

unfortunately unable to attend. I am one of the two survivors 

of the 1937 1st Torpid; we won our oars bumping Merton, Keble, 

Corpus and Oriel. I thought you might be interested in the subsequent 

careers of the crew. Three, possibly four, were killed in the war. Two 

were wounded and the two survivors are in their mid-eighties. Two 

had noticeable influences on international affairs. 

Sincerely 

Eric Sharman (1934, Chemistry) 

EXETER COLLEGE – 1 ST TORPID 1937 

Bow Eric Sharman MC & Bar, lives in Leamington Spa 

2 Rolf Muhlinghaus Killed in Russia 1942, fighting for his 

country 

3 Al Cappell Lieutenant Commander RNR, lives in 

London 

4 Jack Boulton No record, died years ago, possibly in 

the war 

5 Dave Barclay Tasmanian Rhodes Scholar, lost at sea 

1941 

6 Philip Rosenthal Although a German citizen, he fought 

with us. After the war he became 

Finance Minister, West German 

Government and leader of the House. 

Died 27 September 2001. 

7 Gaston Williamson US Rhodes Scholar, US Army, became 

head of Rose Law Firm, Little Rock, 

AR. Hired Hillary Clinton and Webster 

Hubbell, recommended Bill Clinton for 

Rhodes Scholarship. On first name 

terms with Clintons, resident of Little 

Rock. Died 30 June 2002 

Stroke Pat Dodd 

Died many years ago, just after the war 

Cox Brian Moss RAF, killed in air combat 1940 

The College’s 700th anniversary is now not far away. This is a cause for 

celebration of the College’s long and illustrious past and for reflection upon its 

future. Please let us know how you feel about this anniversary. 

Staircase 3 in front quad is undergoing extensive repairs. Old Members who 

wish to provide funds towards the capital costs may be invited to put their 

names to rooms or possibly the staircase. 

£180,000 was donated to the Old 

Members’ Fund between 1 August 2001 

and 31 July 2002. (Please turn to page 

26 to view the list of donors). The 

Development Board, consisting of Old 

Members and Fellows of the College, 

is heavily influenced by donors’ preferences 

when advising Governing Body 

on the disbursement of monies: 

TUTORIAL TEACHING 

Support of current fellowships: 

£100,000 

Support of lecturers, teachers etc.: 

£20,000 

STUDENT SUPPORT 

Bursaries (current year): £10,000 

Bursaries (future): £15,000 

Assistance Fund shares: £15,000 

Cultural and sporting facilities for 

junior members: £15,000 

FABRIC 

Staircase 3 refurbishment: £10,000 

We are close to reaching our target to 

secure in perpetuity a Fellowship in Ancient 

Philosophy. In response to the 

appeal launched upon the retirement of 

Christopher Kirwan major benefactions 

were received from Sir Ronald Cohen 

(1964) and Mark Houghton-Berry 

(1976) alongside a number of smaller 

but nevertheless vital donations. In view 

of the urgent need for teaching College 

elected to appoint the Michael 

Cohen Fellow in Ancient Philosophy 

(pictured with Sir Ronald Cohen and 

Lady Harel-Cohen on page 30). We 

hope to meet our target by June 2003. 

Please contact the Development Office 

if you are willing to contribute to this 

worthy cause. All donations regardless 

of amount are welcome. 

Charles Cotton (1965) has made a major donation pledge in honour of Joe Hatton (1942), Fellow Emeritus 

in Physics. We hope to fund a Fellowship in Physics in perpetuity in order to enable the College to 

retain two teaching fellows and maintain the tradition of excellence embodied by Joe. 


5

The support Exeter offers to students continues outside the world of academia. College travel awards help 

members to extend their education beyond the dreaming spires, even as far as the magnetic North Pole. Matt 

Coates (1998, Materials Science) recounts his experiences... 

GOING NORTH 

t was on the bus to the 

Brecon Beacons in 

Wales that I met a chap 

who was passionate 

about the Poles. At first 

I wasn’t sure why he had 

such an affection for 

the sausage and cabbage 

eating nation but when 

he started to talk about -40°C 

of frost and polar bears I 

realised that he meant the ends 

of the earth not the proud 

nation on the fringe of the all 

new singing and dancing 

Europe land. As we chatted I 

became enchanted by his tales 

of sun dogs, arctic foxes and a 

frozen ocean that he said 

would become almost 

luminescent as it reflected the 

vivid pinks and reds of the sun 

... tales of sun dogs, 

arctic foxes and a 

frozen ocean 

during daylight hours, before 

becoming the backdrop for the 

magical purples and greens of 

the aurora borealis at night. My 

imagination racing I began to 

research the possibilities 

myself. At first the intrigue led 

me to stories about Shackleton, 

Scott, Amundsen and then to 

David Hempleman-Adams, 

Ranulph Fiennes and Richard 

Weber. The sense of 

fascination that each of these 

uniquely adventurous men 

brought to the poles was 

inspiring enough to make me 

want to see them for myself. 

Going for the 

Geographical North Pole is a 

long-term plan. Anyone trying 

to rush such a venture is 

already inviting doom through 

inexperience. In fact, of the 

few people that have managed 

to walk to the pole, all have 

said that the pole decides your 

success. Luck is everything. I 

had no intention of rushing 

into such a venture and was 

already aware of my 

limitations. I had no formal 

cold weather training and I 

would never raise the $150,000 

Canadian needed before even 

contemplating the trip. What 

materialised was a shorter 

venture to the Magnetic North 

Pole, or more precisely, the 

position of the Magnetic North 

Pole during the millennium 

year, its 2002 position being 

out of reach further to the 

north. A small abandoned 

gravel airstrip, known as 

Isachsen, on Ellef Ringnes 

Island was chosen as the end 

point. It was a leftover from the 

1950s when Canada’s bid to 

keep its arctic from the 

Russians and Americans 

invited all manner of scientific 

research and geological 

surveying to scour the north 

and claim it as their own. The 

target was a good choice 

despite the significant 

challenge of attempting to 

cover 570 km, over unknown 

terrain, in just 19 days. 

It is so easy to see the 

romantic side of adventure 

without realising the 

magnitude of planning and 

preparation that it takes. I had 

never undertaken such a task 

before but was confident that 

the experience would be a 

rewarding one. I had made 

contacts in the British Polar 

fraternity, with Oliver 

Sheppard giving me both advice 

and encouragement. Oliver had 

orchestrated and travelled with 

Ranulph Fiennes in the Transglobal 

Expedition in 1980 and 

more recently organised his 

epic crossing of the Antarctic 

in 1992-1993. He has an 

affable affection for the arctic, 

managing to paint the most 

wonderful pictures in your 

mind during slide shows and 

conversations over pints of ale 

in rural pubs. Despite the initial 

stages being well under way 

some months before, serious 

planning and equipment 

gathering began after Christmas 

2002. Finding out about the 

do’s and don’ts as well as what 

works best in such an extreme 

...570 km, over 

unknown terrain, in 

just 19 days 

environment is daunting in 

itself. Every bit of trivia had 

to be researched thoroughly to 

minimise the doubts of 

whether some bit of kit would 

let you down. Would camera 

film become brittle and snap at 

-40°C, would the rubber seals 

on the fuel bottles perish, what 

about medical supplies, such as 

frozen antiseptic cream or sun 

block, what about a plastic 

spoon that won’t snap due to 

the cold, do you wear Gortex 

or cotton, will the LCD 

displays and batteries work 

below -20°C and how do I keep 

my feet warm? Gathering 

numerous expedition reports 


and reading whatever material 

I could lay my hands on was the 

first step. I managed to build a 

good picture from other 

people’s experiences, gradually 

learning the workable 

possibilities, though it still 

makes me laugh when I think 

of testing different tubes of 

toothpaste in my freezer 

(Incidentally, Colgate Sensitive 

seems to work). Taking a trip 

over to Austria during a spell 

of very low temperatures in 

February was also beneficial for 

selecting clothing, as well as 

trying out various ski and 

binding combinations. 

Although the temperatures 

were similar to those expected 

at the pole, I couldn’t 

experience the extreme wind 

...extreme windchill 

chill that I was later to 

encounter. 

Time was rolling on and 

then with ten weeks to go, catastrophe. 

The team was 

originally due to leave at the 

end of March, but after returning 

from my fact-finding 

mission in Austria I was left 

teamless. The 

other three 

members had 

all over committed 

and 

work would 

no longer allow 

them 

leave for the 

expedition. 

All the hard 

work seemed 

in vain and I 

didn’t fancy 

the prospect 

of doing the 

trip solo, both 

for financial 

reasons and 

to give my 

desperately 

worried family at least a little 

peace of mind. I was at my wits 

end, virtually conceding to the 

possibility of postponing until 

the following year when a friend 

I met through the army stepped 

in. He brought with him valuable 

mountaineering 

experience and two other suckers, 

one of whom I already 

knew from my undergraduate 

years at Trinity College. The 

leaving date was extended to 

the 19th of April and we had 

six weeks to pull everything together. 

Working late into 

many nights, researching, 

planning, preparing and then 

planning again we managed to 

put the expedition back 

together. Time was the greatest 

factor against us. Much of the 

equipment was highly 

specialised and needed long 

lead times to acquire. Getting 

hold of the technical gear such 

as food, communications 

equipment, safety beacons, 

specially made tents and 

footwear required a huge effort, 

each member taking a rôle and 

reporting back to the team on 

an almost nightly basis. Most 

of the companies we 

approached simply couldn’t 

provide the equipment in the 

time available. The fact that we 

were cutting it fine was 

highlighted when only two days 

before departure we were still 

waiting for food, thermal 

clothing, sleeping bags, 

communications equipment 

and skis to arrive. In fact the 

indispensable snow shovel was 

delivered as we were getting 

into the taxi taking us to 

Heathrow, which in itself was 

a potential disaster with a vital 

piece of hand luggage being left 

behind. I remember the journey 

to Heathrow vividly as being 

the most hectic and worrying 

possible. My mind was racing 

with equipment lists, technical 

specifications of equipment, 

modifications that needed to be 

made and then most dauntingly, 

would we be able to get our 

massive amount of kit through 

the baggage check-in without 

paying extortionate cargo 

costs? Passing by junction 11 

of the M4 we remembered an 

item that we had overlooked 

and persuaded the taxi driver 

...time was against us 

to go into Reading so we could 

make one last minute purchase 

from Cotswold Camping, 

probably the worlds most 

expensive panhandle, £5 for 

the handle, £20 for the taxi 

there. 

The airport also managed 

to form an entertaining 

arena for last 

m i n u t e 

changes. At 

the weigh-in I 

was hugely 

over the baggage 

allowance, 

with an 

ice-hockey 

bag the size of 

a bathtub not 

even fitting on 

the scales. 

Four guys 

frantically 

repacking 

around a set 

of industrial 

scales in the 

Air Canada 

cargo area was 

providing a highly amusing 

spectacle to other passengers. 

Pulling out boots designed for 

-100°C raised eyebrows, as did 


7

the plethora of expedition 

goodies that swapped hands 

between us. We finally re-approached 

the check-in girls, 

who were either smiling through 

amusement at our antics or because 

they felt confident that 

there was no way we were going 

to check in that much 

equipment without paying 

Comedy punters one, 

Air Canada nil 

hefty excess baggage charges. 

Comedy punters one, Air 

Canada nil, as our eight bags 

weighed in at almost exactly 32 

kilos each, the maximum allowed 

on trans-Atlantic flights. 

Next stop, duty free. 

Flight 889 was a fairly 

uneventful affair. We again 

caused some amusement as we 

pleaded with the generous 

cabin staff for more food, 

trying to get those last minute 

calories into our soon to be 

starved bodies. I didn’t realise 

it then but airplane grub was 

going to become one of our 

fantasies over the coming 

weeks. Discussing the 

wonderment of the lovely little 

pre-packaged goodies, like the 

little cheese portion for the 

little cheese crackers, or the 

lovely little tub of food that 

gets presented just below the 

serving temperature. It’s 

always labelled something 

exotic and normally ends up 

being two pitiful chunks of 

chicken looking rather sad in a 

buttery sauce whose only other 

function is to hold together the 

over-cooked vegetables. I was 

aware during the flight that 

we’d be eating the same thing 

for the next two days, but you 

don’t realise how lucky you are 

until you’ve sampled three 

weeks’ worth of rehydrated 

food. On board entertainment 

was also fairly tired with the 

Canadian version of Austin 

Powers enquiring whether he 

makes Liz Hurley ‘randy’. I 

would normally use flight time 

to catch up on much needed 

sleep, inevitably as a result of 

postponing packing until the 

night before departure. This 

trip was no different and 

although excited I felt the 

chaotic last few days catching 

up on me. With my head lolling 

from side to side on top of the 

headrest I managed to doze, 

normally waking up in time to 

catch the dribble from reaching 

my shirt. Of course it’s also at 

this time that the obligatory 

portly gentleman with terrible 

body odour decides to recline 

fully in front, exerting a wincing 

pressure on my knee caps and 

reducing my personal space to 

the minimum before my tray 

with the broken catch digs into 

my ribs. 

Landing in 

Resolute Bay, our designated 

start point for 

the walk, was an adventure 

all in itself. 

Being utterly unsure 

what to expect when 

we got off the plane 

was a little disconcerting, 

I was wearing a 

pair of thin cotton 

trousers, lightweight 

boots and a fleece top. 

Other passengers 

seemed far more prepared 

with fur-lined 

coats and down jackets. 

You know, until 

you’ve walked off a cosy 

heated airplane into -30°C plus 

a light wind, you never really 

know how cold it is. The end 

of my nose immediately felt 

numb followed shortly by my 

earlobes. This is not good. I 

only have to walk thirty metres 

across the tarmac to the heated 

airport terminal and already 

I’ve got mild frost nip. It’s a 

wake up call that’s for sure. 

You realise that there is no 

room for complacency; the second 

you fail to take precautions 

your skin begins to freeze. The 

coming weeks would test this 

to the maximum. Although the 

adventure had started the previous 

day it really felt like this 

was it. I knew there was no 

turning back some weeks before, 

about the same time as I 

parted with two grand for a 

non-transferable flight. It 

sounds ludicrous now; you can 

fly to Australia and back three 

times for that money. I knew 

this was a little different 

though. I had been looking forward 

to this and with all the 

planning and preparation at an 

end, everything from this point 

on was new. Our final packing 

was carried out in the comfort 

of a hostel run by our man in 

Resolute Bay, Gary Guy. He 

was the heart and soul of so 

many recent polar expeditions 

and possibly the only man I 

know who can rustle up a five 

minute narwhal and seal stew 


one hundred miles from civilisation, 

in -25°C. The hostel 

was a converted satellite hut, 

complete with broken satellite 

dish outside. Although unoccupied 

on our arrival, it housed 

all the equipment for the British 

women’s attempt at the 

Geographical North Pole, as 

well as gear for a Dutch expedition 

to the Magnetic North 

Pole. The hut’s windowless 

walls hid the weather and cold 

from us while we unpacked all 

the bags, fitted bindings to skis, 

completed last minute sewing 

and organised our sledges. Everything 

was checked and 

double-checked with sighs of 

relief only when we were confident 

we had everything we 

needed. Nothing had been forgotten 

and by some miracle the 

various airlines had managed 

to bring all the equipment 

through relatively unscathed. 

Final preparations were carried 

out, including cold weather 

testing of the satellite phone 

and GPS. The final few hours 

...one hundred miles 

from civilisation, in 

- 25°C 

to the designated departure 

time of 1pm, Sunday the 21st 

April were drawing closer. 

Mental post-it notes being detached 

from our minds as we 

started going through the lists 

again; the prearranged pick up, 

the procedure in event of an 

emergency, the procedure in 

event of lost communications, 

the procedure in event of separation, 

the procedure in event 

of bear attack, the procedure 

in event of being 

navigationally challenged. All 

possibilities had to be considered. 

Alone. Like giddy 

schoolboys we left the warmth 

and comfort of the hut we’d 

temporarily called home and 

would be the focus of much 

longing, and dreams of tem- 

peratures above zero. Looking 

at the group of three men on 

the ice, one thing struck me: we 

really did look like arctic explorers. 

It all seemed such a remote 

dream until now. Everything 

accomplished up to this 

point had been preparation and 

now here we were on the ice, 

dressed in traditional red 

ventile parkers, not dissimilar 

to those used a hundred years 

ago, with a fur lined hoods, big 

mitts, windproof trousers and 

stomping great boots and skis, 

setting off over the ice to 

somewhere in the north, quite 

where, none of us was sure. It 

was a marvellous feeling, moving 

over the ice under your own 

steam, carrying everything to 

sustain you for the next 21 

days. Movement was not too laboured 

as our sledges weighed 

around 120lbs instead of 

200plus that would be normal 

for a Geographic North attempt. 

The ice we were travelling 

over was 

about 4ft 

thick underfoot, 

with a 

hard windswept 

surface. 

This made 

pulling easier 

than we expected 

and 

enabled us to 

spend the majority 

of the 

time off the 

skis, just 

walking with 

the constant 

tug of the 

pulks behind. 

Day 

one was beautiful, 

walking 

away from 

civilisation 

and into the 

unknown. 

The landscape 

white, and 

clear, with the 

sun being reflected 

off a 

million facets 

of ice, making 

the surface shimmer as if 

walking on white blankets encrusted 

with diamonds. The 

surface was undulating with areas 

of accumulated drift, making 

the snow softer. In some areas 

there were intricate shapes 

formed from the relentless 

wind and ice eroding some 

minute feature on the ice. It 

would sometimes build up with 

... we really did look 

like arctic explorers 

its own drift pile, or be hollowed 

like pools on a beach 

with a receding tide. Camping 

that night brought what would 

become a familiar emotion. We 

pulled 17 km during 7 hours 

and feeling delighted with our 

performance we turned to see 

how far Resolute Bay was, only 

to be dismayed at its appearance 

only a few kilometres 


9

away. This optical deception 

would follow us through the 

coming days, with objects appearing 

to be many kilometres 

away but taking only hours to 

reach, or appearing to be so 

close you felt that you would 

surely pass it soon, but fail to 

reach it until the following day’s 

march was over. Each day followed 

a similar pattern. I would 

wake at 8am and immediately 

put the stove on having filled 

the pan with ice the previous 

evening. Then I would turn 

back into the tent and begin 

scraping the ice off the inside 

of the tent fabric. This builds 

up into significant quantities 

and must be removed to prevent 

it falling onto the sleeping 

bags, defrosting and ruining 

the down fill. Once finished 

with the housekeeping, my pan 

of water would be near the boil 

and I could make my breakfast 

and drinks for the day. Pouring 

the precious water into thermos 

flasks and the food sachets was 

a careful process. Spilling the 

water would mean more fuel to 

melt more lumps of ice, and 

this wasn’t allowed in the daily 

ration. Water would be wiped 

from the screw threads of the 

flasks and fuel bottles, preventing 

blockages and possible seizing. 

After eating the rehydrated 

rations I would begin to pack 

up the tent. Communicating 

with the other tent to make 

sure that we 

finished at the 

same time, 

preventing 

needless hanging 

around in 

the low temperatures. 

Each 

day we would 

aim to walk for 

ten hours with 

a short break 

for lunch, 

normally 

taken standing 

though as the 

days increased 

we would find 

the need to sit 

on the sledges. Lunch and food 

throughout the day’s march 

consisted of a combination of 

two pepperami bars, (playing 

peperami roulette with the 

dozen hot spicy ones in the 

box), flapjack, energy bar, 

Kendal mint cake and 

chocolate. This would be 

washed down with a little hot 

chocolate or hot water. It 

seemed fairly satisfactory for 

the first few days but as the 

expedition progressed we 

realised we were woefully short 

on calories, and conversations 

regularly turned to our favourite 

dishes, the best restaurants and 

what we were going to eat 

when we returned. Pizza 

figured quite high on our lists, 

along with bacon butties from 

a particular roadside café on 

the Oxford to Swindon road. It 

got bad enough that little 

... woefully short on 

calories 

portions of food on airplanes 

became tremendously 

appetising. On these grounds 

alone I know what I would and 

would not take as rations for 

future trips. I didn’t perform 

exact calculations on the 

nutrition, mainly because we 

had already taken everything 

that we could. The specific 

calorific value of foodstuffs is 

extremely important in the 

arctic and a minimum of 5000 

calories per man per day 

necessary. We barely managed 

with 2400 calories and it was 

obvious that we would all lose 

a considerable amount of 

weight. I was fortunate in that 

extra pounds gained over 

Easter, bingeing on Harry 

Potter eggs, gave me extra 

energy and a modicum of 

comfort. I returned to the UK 

weighing eight kilos less than 

leaving. It would have been 

more had we not tucked into 

our emergency rations from day 

14 onwards. 

During the day the only 

other rests that were taken 

were on an individual basis. 

The thought was that as each 

of us took our micro stops we 

would stay relatively close 

together. The theory was fine 

but in practice we found that 

we would drift a significant 

distance from each other as the 

day progressed. The day’s 

march was normally over by 

9pm depending on the weather 

conditions. Then it was a race 

to get the tents up, stow 

equipment inside and put up 

the bear fence, which was 

actually a thin piece of rope 

passed between the skis and 

poles. It gave some piece of 

mind but I knew in reality that 

it would give neither warning 


nor deterrent to 

an approaching 

bear. The sound 

that was most 

comforting was 

the roar of the 

stove as it starts 

to melt the snow 

gathered for our 

evening meal. I 

would always try 

to save a little 

hot water from 

my thermos to 

make this 

process quicker. 

After that, life 

could take a 

more sedate 

approach. In the 

evenings I would 

update my diary with the 

distance covered, position 

given by the GPS and an 

overview of the day. Each day 

was different with weather 

figuring heavily in GOOD day, 

BAD day assessments. For the 

first week or so we had low 

temperatures, the worst being 

... bitten by the 

relentless wind 

day three where an absolute 

temperature of -30°C coupled 

with a wind speed of 60 km per 

hour gave a chilling outlook of 

about -70°C. Any areas of 

exposed skin were rapidly 

bitten by the relentless wind 

and a close eye was maintained 

on each member to ensure 

noses, ears and chins were 

covered. It was a loathsome 

experience to have to complete 

a task with dexterity as it 

inevitably meant the removal 

of one or more pairs of gloves, 

exposing fingers to the cold and 

risking frostbite. Each task 

would be undertaken with 

careful consideration and with 

great care. Often the simple 

process of having a drink 

would become a 5 minute affair 

with regular warming sessions 

for numb fingers every thirty 

seconds or so. 

During the march up 

cled round and moved from 

down wind of our position to 

the side of 

Bathurst Island 

we encountered 

much rougher ice 

as well as more 

signs of wildlife 

in the form of 

fox, bear, dog 

and wolf tracks. 

Sighting the first 

of the bear 

tracks was a little 

unsettling. A paw 

print the size of 

my hand, with 

three inch claw 

marks easily 

identified in the 

snowy imprint. It 

was a sobering 

thought and increased 

The wind presented 

other problems too. Everything 

had to be tied down, gloves on 

idiot strings and the sleeping 

mats on the outside of sledges 

tied and bungeed down 

securely against the wind’s 

prying fingers. I watched ski 

poles get blown over the ice in 

high wind and it would be an 

immediate loss if something 

lighter was released. Day five 

was one of the most glorious 

days with no wind. It was still 

registering -19°C on the 

thermometer but I was 

comfortably walking in just my 

thermal under layers. It’s lucky 

that there aren’t fashion police 

in the arctic, as I would most 

certainly have been charged 

with looking either ridiculously 

funny or incredibly scary, as I 

stomped over the snow with a 

dark blue second skin, black 

hat with ear flaps and a pair of 

tundra sunglasses. All I needed 

to complete the ‘gimp’ outfit 

was a studded leather choker 

round my neck; fortunately we 

had elected to leave them back 

in Resolute Bay. Many of the 

days would seem to be the same 

as the previous one with the 

my vigilance over the 

endless icy horizon all the more 

so. I knew we were likely to 

encounter bear tracks but most 

people said it was unlikely we 

would encounter their owners. 

How wrong they were. I had 

seen bears in documentary videos 

as well as reading what I 

could concerning their behaviour. 

It was therefore interesting 

when I had such encounters. 

During a 24-hour period from 

day six to day seven the team 

encountered no less than three 

bears. The first was a large female, 

spotted easily due to the 

female’s more yellow coat. The 

bear was about 300 metres 

away moving from left to right, 

using the rubble ice as cover. 

She was aware of our presence 

and would often pause, rise up 

onto her hind legs and sniff the 

air. We had with us a .30 calibre 

bolt-action rifle, thirty 

rounds of expanding tip ammunition 

and six bear bangers. We 

watched the bear continue 

through the rubble using a monocular 

and the telescopic sight 

on the rifle. It was a humbling 

experience watching an animal 

move so gracefully and effortlessly 

exception of subtle 

over the terrain that 

differences, but it was the 

subtle differences that made 

each day so enjoyable, or so 

testing. 

would have us hauling breathless 

over and through ridges of 

jumbled rubble. The bear cir- 


11

up wind, indicating perhaps 

that she didn’t intend to be a 

threat. She constantly kept us 

under observation and it was 

difficult following her in the 

camouflaging terrain. For two 

hours we waited 

patiently, hoping 

that the 

distance between 

the bear 

and us would 

increase, that 

the threat would 

retreat from our 

vicinity. We 

would lose sight 

for a time, 

heightening our 

suspicions and 

forcing us to 

search almost 

frantically with 

straining eyes, 

through the 

near distance rubble. A final 

sighting raised our hopes that 

the bear was avoiding us as 

much as we wanted to avoid 

her so we decided to move on 

and, since the day was drawing 

close to 10pm, look for a campsite. 

Obviously the worry was 

that she would return, easily 

detecting our scent and paying 

us a visit while we slept. This 

thought remained in our minds 

as we established camp. 

Our routine went as 

normal: tents, fence and food. 

All the while we would be 

keeping a close eye on our arcs 

either end of the tents, like 

meerkats, popping their heads 

out of their dens, looking for 

an impending doom. Just as I 

was settling down for the night 

I heard the other tent yell 

‘Matt, bring out the cannon’. I 

quickly pulled the rifle from its 

place beside me, dropped one 

of the huge rounds into the 

chamber, pushed the bolt 

forward and applied the safety 

catch. Jonjo was telling me that 

the bear was at the sledges. I 

knew the sledges were only two 

metres from the front of the 

tent, acting as a first line of 

defence against a frontal 

assault. I edged forward to the 

zips that held the entrance to 

my tent closed; carefully 

zipping it down I saw a 

magnificent, and deeply 

terrifying sight. Standing barely 

five meters from the sledges 

was a huge male polar bear. He 

looked so peaceful, friendly and 

majestic, a true king of the 

Arctic. Of course he was sans 

Coca Cola bottle but still you 

get that feeling of true 

wilderness when you’re face to 

face with something that 

considers you an hors d’oeuvre. 

I remembered what Gary had 

told me about using the rifle to 

scare one away. Shooting the 

ice to the side of the bear works 

best. I raised the rifle to my 

... so peaceful, 

friendly, majestic, a 

true king of the Arctic 

shoulder, fixed my aim on the 

bear, moved to the ice on its 

low left, slipped the safety catch 

off and squeezed the trigger. 

The sound was deafening as the 

rifle kicked back into my 

shoulder, my leading hand 

holding it firm. I lowered the 

muzzle and the bear looked at 

me, almost quizzically, as if to 

say, ‘Hey, I just smelt the food 

and was curious’. This was no 

time for discussion on culinary 

delights, so dropping another 

round in the chamber, raising 

the rifle into the aim, I fired 

another shot, again aiming low 

and left. This time the bear 

decided that we probably 

weren’t worth it and ran rather 

energetically 

away to the 

northeast. 

T h e 

encounter left 

me trembling, 

and as I turned 

to the other 

guys I could 

see that we 

were all quite 

shaken by the 

experience. 

On one hand 

it was 

reassuring that 

this animal we 

had heard so 

much about, 

was at least scared at loud 

bangs, but on the other…we 

could have been the arctic 

delicacy known as ‘Explorer à 

la down suit and polartec hat’. 

Immediately after the incident 

I felt ashamed at having to 

scare the bear away, to threaten 

its territory when I was the 

trespasser. It was doing us no 

harm, just curious no doubt. 

Then I remembered back to 

the literature and the video. 

Bears are dangerous and no 

matter how passive they look, 

they’ll happily take an easy 

meal. Scaring it away was the 

best course of action to be 

taken. Being stalked by a polar 

bear must truly be a terrifying 

experience; hopefully by firing 

a gun and scaring it away it will 

not return and perhaps, rather 

optimistically, it will learn that 

loud bangs spell danger, 

leading it to avoid encounters 

with sport hunters who 

frequent the arctic looking for 

their next wall hanging or rug. 

The following morning 

had us recounting the night’s 

events. I was alarmed at how 

close the bear had come to the 

tent, and also that we had not 

seen it earlier. Was this a 

chance encounter or are we 


eing followed. The numbers 

of tracks found throughout this 

period had also increased 

markedly. On one day we 

counted no less than 17 sets of 

tracks. Whether they came 

from different bears I cannot be 

sure, but it was clear that we 

were right in the middle of their 

migratory path that lead them 

through Bathurst Island’s 

appropriately named Polar Bear 

Pass and on to Baffin Island in 

the east. Our final bear 

encounter was to come later 

that same morning. Walking 

carefully along, remaining 

focused on checking the 

surroundings, we spotted 

another, much younger male 

bear. Fortunately, upon 

recognising our presence he 

turned and ran away but it again 

showed us the prevalence of 

the animal in this region. They 

were moving down off the ice, 

the mothers with their young 

cubs (we only saw tracks), to 

feed off the seals that were 

beginning to emerge from the 

ice to bask in the sunshine. 

Encounters such as this would 

remain a possibility and a threat 

... the encounter left 

me trembling 

that would disrupt many a 

night’s sleep to come. The soft 

noise that the wind can make 

on the tent would have me 

frantically unzipping my 

sleeping bag and grabbing the 

rifle, before realising that it was 

merely a guy rope working 

loose. The movement of snow, 

as it avalanched down the side 

of the tent fabric would shock 

me awake almost every hour, 

or sometimes you would feel 

certain that a bear was about 

to tumble through the flimsy 

fabric of the tent, just because 

you could hear your own heart, 

beating against the inside of 

your sleeping bag. 

The next highly 

memorable incident occurred 

later in the expedition. It was 

day 14 and we were drawing 

closer to the top of Bathurst 

Island. The weather had been 

appalling for a couple of days, 

with limited visibility and 

strong winds from the 

northwest, straight into our 

faces. The day was drawing on 

and even the conversations 

about food cravings were long 

gone. This was when slogging 

began. Just moving forwards 

because that was all there was 

to do. Lifting my head 

produced a biting effect on 

... just moving 

forwards because that 

was all there was to do 

exposed flesh and I was 

constantly scrunching fingers 

together to make a fist inside 

my frozen mitts, in a vain 

attempt to keep the cold out of 

my hands. The ground was 

difficult, with hidden areas of 

deep drift and the occasional 

hole in the solid ice, meaning 

you dropped to your knees in 

slushy briny ice. Immediately 

ahead were two headlands as 

we progressed between Loney 

Island and Bathurst Island. A 

narrow channel of water that I 

had hoped would render the ice 

flat turned out to be quite 

rubbly and also the perfect 

wind tunnel. My efforts were 

becoming laborious when 

suddenly the wind dropped 

slightly and I lifted my head. 

Words cannot do 

justice to the wonderful scene 

that greeted me. The sun was 

directly ahead of me, 

illuminating the thin clouds to 

a golden mist. The wind was 

strong enough to produce spin 

drift on the ice, whipping the 

crystals into elaborate shifting 

patterns, like sand on a windy 

day. It was like a silvery white 

river running over my boots 

from the direction of the sun. 

The headlands were visible, 

shrouded in thin cloud and 

symmetrically placed either 

side of the sun. I stood there 

in complete and utter 

amazement, knowing that I 

could have been anywhere else 

in the Universe but not planet 

Earth. The experience was 

amazing, three men dressed in 

frozen red jackets, standing at 

the gate of some ethereal place 

in the cosmos. We couldn’t 

speak for a while, and each of 

us became captivated in our 

own thoughts. I am not a 

particularly religious man - the 

occasional bowed head and the 

twice annual visit to church, 

weddings and funerals aside - 

but this was as I would imagine 

Heaven 

Ȧ third memorable 

occasion was on day 17, our 

last night as it turned out. The 


13

time was approaching 

midnight and we were all in 

our various states of sleep. 

I heard a zip in the other 

tent and heard Julian say my 

name. I realised that it 

meant he thought he’d 

heard something, another 

bear? I pulled myself out of 

my warm bag and into the 

cold air of the tent. I knew 

that Julian would be at the 

other end of the tent, going 

to the front door so I must 

cover the back. As I 

unzipped the tent outer to 

have a look around I 

noticed the sun. It was 

positioned in the north, 

quite low in the sky, but 

was not a brilliant round spot, 

rather a shining bar, stretching 

vertically. There were sundogs 

either side, like rainbows 

mapping out a partial halo. I had 

read much about the 

atmospheric anomalies that can 

occur at high latitude. The 

aurora borealis, mirages, 

floating mountains, but I had 

never heard about the sun 

changing shape. There was a 

slightly more brilliant area in the 

..is captivating, awe 

inspiring and 

humbling all in the 

same moment 

centre where the sun would 

have been expected but the 

appearance of a bar of light was 

an almost biblical experience. 

That was the amazing thing 

about being here. I had read 

about so many wonderful 

experiences in nature but it is 

always hard to imagine what 

something really looks like 

unless you have seen it for 

yourself 

İt was the subtle differences 

that captured 

each day, that made 

the journey so special, 

almost 

enlightening. Walking 

all day 

completely consumed 

in your own 

thoughts, wrapped 

in a landscape that 

was so beautiful, so 

peaceful, so wild, 

knowing that the 

unexpected was 

possible at any time. 

It was a novel experience, 

not 

something that you 

get at such a constant 

rate anywhere 

else. So many other 

places on the planet 

are well documented, 

have 

postcards and visitors. 

The arctic has 

none of that. It is 

still wildly unknown 

and unspoilt. There are 

no bugs, no germs, no litter and 

no sign of mankind’s presence. 

Its remoteness and splendour is 

captivating, awe inspiring and 

humbling all in the same moment. 

Reflecting back to the 

books I started reading some 

two years ago I can now see 

why my heroes became so obsessed 

with the poles. It has an 

infectious attraction and arctic 

residents know it. It seems odd 

that they would say ‘see you 

again soon’ but as the plane lifts 

off the tarmac for the journey 

home, you realise that you’ve 

already got withdrawal symptoms. 

It saddens my heart 

knowing the emotions of solitude, 

the invigoration of the 

unknown and the sense of humility 

as I pass quietly over a 

vastness of ice, will become 

memories awakened by photographs 

as I attempt to contain 

my joy when recounting the 

tales to would be listeners. 


David Garrick’s tenure as the Staines Medical Research Fellow at Exeter College has just ended. 

he provides an insight into his research 

In this article 

THE ATRX SYNDROME 

A disease of DNA packaging 

In February 2001, a scientific milestone was reached. A 

complete first draft sequence of the human genome 

was revealed. We could now read the entire set of 

instructions (an estimated 32 000 genes embedded within 

this human genetic material) which govern and define 

human life. A monumental achievement indeed; but we 

are still far from fully understanding how these instructions 

direct and control the vast myriad of biological phenomena 

by which a fertilised egg is converted into a fully developed 

adult human being. We may have the book of life before 

us to read in its entirety but now comes the task of really 

understanding what it is saying. 

One area of obvious importance is the question of 

how the genes themselves are controlled, that is, how 

individual genes are ‘turned on’ and ‘turned off’. Every 

cell in the body (with some specific exceptions) contains a 

complete copy of the genetic information and thus has a 

copy of every gene. However, while some genes must be 

active (expressed) in all cell types (the so-called housekeeping 

genes), others are only required to be active in cells of a 

particular type (for example, some are active only in 

particular muscle cells while others are expressed only in 

particular types of blood cells). Mechanisms must exist to 

ensure that each gene is turned on at the required time and 

in the required tissue and conversely, that genes remain 

turned off and inactive when they 

are not required. If these 

regulatory mechanisms break 

down, the expression of a gene 

in the wrong cell type or at the 

incorrect time or the failure of a 

gene to become active when it is 

required in a particular cell can 

dramatically perturb normal 

development and bring about 

various diseased states. 

In higher organisms, the 

DNA does not exist freely within 

each cell, but is wrapped up and 

folded into a complex structure 

referred to as chromatin. This 

packaging of the DNA is 

essential to compact the genetic 

material so that it can be 

contained within the physical 

constraints of the cell. However, 

the folding of naked DNA into 

chromatin also generates the potential to regulate the activity 

of individual genes. It appears that whether a gene becomes 

active or remains inert can be controlled to some extent 

by how the gene has been packaged within the nucleus of 

the cell. To put it simply, regions of DNA containing genes 

which are turned off are frequently tightly packaged and 

highly condensed. In a tissue where a gene is required to 

be active, the region of DNA containing the gene is often 

modified to a state which is less tightly packaged and more 

‘open’. If this packaging goes wrong, it seems a likely 

consequence that some genes may be activated in 

inappropriate tissues, while others may become repressed 

at sites when they should be expressed. 

My research over the past three years, as the Staines 

Junior Research Fellow at Exeter College, has focused on 

a human genetic disease which appears to involve a 

breakdown in the normal mechanisms regulating DNA 

packaging. This disease is known as the ATRX syndrome 

(standing for alpha-thalassaemia and mental retardation 

syndrome, X-linked). The primary features of the disease 

include severe learning difficulties, characteristic facial and 

skeletal abnormalities, abnormalities of genital 

development, and a distinct blood disorder (known as 

alpha thalassaemia), in which red blood cells from these 

patients produce insufficient alpha globin chains (one of 

the two types of protein chains 

which make up haemoglobin, the 

oxygen-carrying component of 

the blood). The syndrome occurs 

when there are mutations 

(mistakes) within a large gene 

(now called the ATRX gene) 

which is situated on the human 

X chromosome. Because the 

Peripheral blood cells from a typical 

ATRX patient stained with BCB 

dye. The abnormal haemoglobin 

HbH (which occurs when there is a 

failure to produce sufficient alpha 

globin chains) gives rise to a distinct 

speckled pattern in some cells. 


15

gene responsible is on the X 

chromosome, the disease state arises 

only in males (who have only one 

copy of the X chromosome). 

Because females have two X 

chromosomes, they essentially have 

a spare copy of the gene. A 

mutation in the ATRX gene on one 

X chromosome is compensated for 

by the presence of an intact and 

functional ATRX gene on the other 

X. Such females are called silent 

carriers since they themselves exhibit 

none of the features of the disease, 

but have a 50% likelihood of 

transmitting the disease to any male 

offspring and a 50% likelihood of 

transmitting the carrier status to any 

female offspring. The ATRX 

syndrome is one of a group of 

around 60 different causes of mental 

retardation which are inherited on 

the X chromosome. The gene 

responsible for the ATRX syndrome 

was identified in 1995 in the 

laboratory of Professor Doug Higgs 

at the MRC Molecular 

Haematology Unit within the 

Weatherall Institute of Molecular 

Medicine at the John Radcliffe 

Hospital. Since then research in the 

laboratory has been directed 

towards understanding what role the 

ATRX protein (the product of the 

ATRX gene) plays during normal 

development and why development 

goes wrong in males where the gene 

is defective. 

Initial research efforts were 

directed towards determining the 

exact tissues and times at which 

ATRX function is required during 

normal development. Many of 

these experiments have been carried 

out in an animal (mouse) model, 

where it is possible to analyse the prenatal 

developmental stages. 

Somewhat surprisingly, it was found 

that ATRX is critically required from 

a very early stage in development and 

that a complete absence of the 

protein results in lethality well before 

birth. This was a more severe result 

than was expected since the patients 

that we have been studying are 

clearly surviving beyond birth (the 

oldest patients under study are now 

in their fifties). Upon re-evaluation, 

it was found that all patients are 

actually making some small amounts 

of functional ATRX protein 

(although often dramatically reduced 

relative to normal individuals). 

Clearly a critical amount of ATRX 

protein is a requisite for survival to 

birth. Our experimental system is 

now being manipulated to allow us 

to study what role ATRX plays at 

later stages of development and in 

specifically targeted tissues. This will 

hopefully allow a more detailed 

analysis of the role of ATRX in 

tissues such as the developing brain 

and the haematopoietic (blood) 

system, where clinical evidence in 

human patients suggests that ATRX 

is likely to play an important role. 

Clearly the product of the 

ATRX gene is playing a fundamental 

role during mammalian 

development. So what is it actually 

doing? It was found that the ATRX 

.. the disease state arises only 

in males 

protein is a new member of a family 

of related proteins (collectively 

referred to as the SNF2 family) 

which appear to regulate the activity 

of multiple downstream genes by 

controlling how those genes have 

been packaged into chromatin. Thus 

in ATRX patients, where the ATRX 

protein is not functioning optimally, 

it seems that the resulting failure to 

package the DNA correctly at 

certain sites causes the genes present 

at those sites to be ‘turned on’ or 

‘turned off’ inappropriately. ATRX 

is tightly associated within the nucleus 

of the cell with the DNA which has 

been most densely compacted (so 

called heterochromatin). It may be 

that the remodeling activity of 

ATRX is particularly required at 

these tightly condensed regions. 

ATRX can thus be considered as a 

kind of master switch – a problem 

in this one gene perturbs the activity 

of a variety of other genes. The 

effects of mutations in this one gene 

(the ‘master switch’) can therefore be 

observed in a wide range of 

different tissues and systems (notably 

blood, brain, skeleton, genitalia) in 

ATRX patients. Among other 

avenues of research, furture efforts 

must be directed towards identifying 

the different genes whose activity is 

dependent on ATRX. At the 

moment we know from the 

characteristic blood abnormality in 

ATRX patients that the alpha globin 

genes are downstream targets for 

regulation by ATRX, but while other 

target genes must exist (genes which 

are important in other tissues) they 

are not yet known. 

Problems of DNA 

packaging are only recently emerging 

as a potential disease-causing 

mechanism. As well as ATRX, 

several other human genetic diseases 

have recently been characterised 

(notably the Rett syndrome and the 

ICF syndrome) which appear to arise 

due to a breakdown in the normal 

packaging of DNA within the cell. 

It is interesting that one common 

feature of all these ‘diseases of DNA 

packaging’ is some form of mental 

impairment, suggesting that the 

developing brain may be particularly 

susceptible to perturbations in gene 

expression which occur when DNA 

packaging goes wrong. Apart from 

the clinical relevance of research into 

these diseases, such research should 

further our basic understanding of 

how the expression of genes is 

regulated in complex organisms. 

With the completion of the human 

genome sequence we know where 

the genes are, but the great potential 

of this information will only be fully 

exploited when we understand how 

the activity of those genes is 

controlled. 

David Garrick, 

MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, 

Weatherall Institute of Molecular 

Medicine, 

John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford 

If you wish to support the sciences at Exeter 

please write to the Director of Development 


Jonathan Marks is the Computing Systems Manager at Exeter College. A lot has changed since the heady days of the ZX81 

REVOLUTION AT EXETER 

College has better chips 

When I started at Exeter 

College in May 1995, there 

were just four Viglen 386 

computers in the Bursary area, along 

with some older 8086 green screen 

‘specimens’, to deal with all the college 

administration. Down in the 

Balsdon Room there were two Viglen 

486 DX33 computers, a further 386, 

and a dumb terminal to allow students 

to connect to the university’s central 

computing services via a ‘Gandalf’ telephone 

line. That’s right – one terminal 

for the e-mail requirements of 400 

students! Data networking did not 

exist in college. OUCS (Oxford University 

Computing Services) had recently 

laid a fibre optic cable to the front gate (well, just 

under Turl Street pavement actually) and were ready for 

us to make a connection. My first job was to purchase a 

computer – we had to start somewhere! Next job was 

to make contact with a cabling contractor to install data 

cable round the college. It seemed a truly mammoth task 

ahead! It doesn’t seem plausible now, but initially I was 

employed for 1½ days per week, shared with Oriel College. 

That didn’t last long. In June 1996 Exeter College 

‘bit the bullet’ and employed me for 4 days a week. I 

could happily drop the task of juggling the demands of 

two colleges and concentrate on the rapidly expanding 

role at Exeter. 

The college was cabled up over the summer vacation 

in 1995. In terms of network provision, we leapt 

from absolutely nothing to being ahead of the game compared 

to other Oxford colleges. (Such a status in IT provision 

does not last long!) The best aspects of this provision 

were that all the offices, all the fellows’ rooms and 

about two-thirds of the student rooms on the main college 

site were connected for network access. There have 

been significant enhancements to the network infrastructure 

over the years. Now all the rooms on main site have 

a network socket, and in this last academic year, about 

110 undergraduate students have had their own computer 

connected to the network. We also have many sockets 

in the college library into which students who live out 

can connect using their notebook 

computers. The network is switched 

with a 100Mbps feed from Oxford 

University Computing Services which 

feeds into the university’s new Gigabit 

backbone. Thereafter the university 

connects into JANET (Joint Academic 

Network of the UK) at Reading, 

via a regional network including 

University of Oxford, Oxford 

Brookes and Rutherford Appleton 

Laboratory. JANET of course is connected 

to the World Wide Web. 

Former members of the MCR will 

be interested to learn that since 1999 

Exeter House on the Iffley Road has 

been connected to the data network 

via a Wireless LAN link. After some initial teething troubles, 

this has worked remarkably well; all the residents can 

be connected 24 hours a day from their own study bedrooms. 

We purchased our first file server in early 1996 and 

installed Netware version 3.12. I well remember the long 

sessions spent in getting the server configured correctly 

so that it would serve out Windows together with all the 

applications required. After an initial DOS login from a 

networked computer, the user could run Windows 3.11, 

which was run from the server to provide a consistent 

and known working copy of Windows on the computer, 

which could not be messed up by the more inquisitive 

or mendacious. The night we went live with connecting 

computers to use the new server system in April 

1996 stays in the memory – working through to 3 am to 

get new computers in the Balsdon Room set-up and ready 

to go the next day for students to log in. 

We now have two major file servers running 

Netware 5 – with at least one more server required, and 

joining them before too long. The Balsdon Room is 

now kitted out with 14 modern PCs running Windows 

NT, connected to our Netware 5 file server. We also 

have a small MCR Computing Room for graduate students, 

with a further 3 PCs. One of my predictions five 

years ago was, as the number of students who bring their 

own computers to university increased, that the need for 


17

a dedicated college computing room would wane. I was 

wrong. The number of students bringing their own computers 

to Exeter has indeed increased steadily, but the 

Balsdon Room remains heavily utilised in term time. I 

believe that a number of factors account for this: 1) All 

students are using computers now as a standard tool, not 

just those who are interested. 2) Students use computers 

to achieve more tasks more of the time. 3) The prevalence 

of e-mail as the main communication tool in the 

university – ‘I’ll just check my e-mail’. 4) Students ‘come 

downstairs’ to print their work 5) Students want to use a 

faster computer for some tasks than their personally owned 

computer. 

One of the early realisations was that there was no 

way I was going to be able to support 300 undergraduate 

and 150 graduate students alone. We formulated the role 

of Student Computing Assistants who would be employed 

by the college, drew up a proper job description and agreed 

an hourly rate of pay. This has worked very well, and the 

model was adopted by a number of Oxford colleges. 

There have been quite a number of assistants come and 

move on, but I would want to mention four who, over 

these last years, have played a tremendous support rôle in 

the computing work in college – mostly in a quiet and 

unassuming way. Nick Bryan (1994-1998) - one day I 

ended up in hospital, entirely unexpectedly, and sent a message 

asking Nick to visit. Poor Nick had to step into the 

breach; thanks again. Jamie Lord (1995-1999), Neil Beattie 

(1996-2000), Bryan Gullan (1998-2002). 

By 2000, my workload was becoming overwhelming. 

Eventually at the beginning of 2001, the college agreed 

to my request for help. In March 2001, Mark Phillips 

joined me as a second full time member of staff. His role 

has been crucial and his support invaluable. We are based 

in Palmers Tower rooms 8 & 9, right at the very top underneath 

the eaves. Perhaps the original idea was to tuck 

me somewhere out of the way! Many years ago these 

rooms were servants’ quarters in the Rector’s Lodgings. 

More recently PT9 was a bathroom, then a fellow’s room, 

before becoming my office. 

It has been fascinating to see how the use of computing 

technology has changed and helped the administration 

of different parts of college life. Apart from all 

the bursary and administration offices, we have computers 

in such places as the lodge, kitchen, and the Butler’s 

pantry. E-mail is the standard means of communication 

across the university by almost all academic staff, administrative 

staff and students. There are a number of databases 

which have been instrumental in the changes in college 

administration, and are now crucial to the running of the 

college. These include a student database and the Old 

Members’ database, both of which were written by Matthew 

Preston, a former student, and the first Development 

Officer. Naturally the Development Office, looking 

after the interests of old members, is a primary user 

of computing technology and college databases, and will 

be one of the departments keeping us in the Computing 

Department on our toes as we strive to serve the increasing 

I.T. requirements of Exeter. 

Computing in the university itself goes back a lot 

further than in the individual colleges, and indeed the history 

of Oxford University Computing Services (OUCS) 

has been well and very ably documented.* The relationship 

between college computing and OUCS has been 

steadily evolving with a mixture of excellent central core 

services run by OUCS (e.g. the University’s network infrastructure, 

running e-mail servers for all students, central 

unix services etc.) and a growing realisation that OUCS 

can best support us, providing quality secondary support 

to backing up our first line of support in the colleges and 

departments. All the other Oxford colleges have faced 

similar challenges in their use of computing technology. 

The characteristics of a modern data network mean that 

the traffic runs seamlessly across the physical boundaries 

of a centuries old university. During the course of 1996 it 

became clear that there were a number of Computing 

Officers like me dotted around various colleges with differing 

employment arrangements, striving to do a good 

job in virtual isolation. Springing out of the first IT Support 

Staff Conference, a number of us got together to 

form the College IT Officers’ Forum (CITOF) – an informal 

forum with meetings and a mailing list which has 

been and continues to be a great help. 

The rate of change in the Information Technology 

sector is extraordinary. Predicting the future direction 

of the IT revolution is a risky business. There are 

many quotations, that have turned out to be grossly inaccurate, 

from well known people about how things will 

transform. I shall not attempt to predict the future. Suffice 

to say that the rate of change appears to be continuing 

at this breakneck speed, and in the Computing Department 

we shall strive to keep up. 

Within our college, we already know about some 

of the challenges that lie ahead: 1) We intend to connect 

up our external residences for undergraduate students on 

the Iffley Road (Stapledon House, Annexe, 228, 230) to 

the data network, hopefully within the next year. This 

would be a fantastic step change in our provision for undergraduate 

students at the college. 2) We want to host 

our own web servers and enhance our web services. Other 

future challenges are more long term and will be driven 

to some extent by outside influences. For example: how 

we should be using I.T. in the process of academic teaching 

(Virtual Learning Environments etc.); the rôle of ‘the 

grid’ for teaching and learning in UK universities; integration 

of database with web services; finding sources of 

funding to pay for these needed changes. 

In the context of 688 years of Exeter College I 

am humbled by the realisation that computers have been 

in serious use for a mere 1% of that time! What Bishop 

Walter de Stapeldon would have thought of it all, heaven 

only knows. 

* See http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/internal/history/ 

If you would like to help support computing provision at Exeter please contact 

the Development Office. 


If 

Philip Hobday (Modern History, 1999) explores the prosperity and degeneracy 

of Exeter College in the 1650s under Rector Conant 

Are losing theirs... 

Rudyard Kipling’s opening 

to his poem ‘If ’ may not 

seem immediately relevant 

to a study of Exeter College in 

the middle of the seventeenth 

century. Yet it does seem a fitting 

manner in which to characterise 

Exeter at this time, a college which 

was prosperous and vibrant amid 

an Oxford marked by moral, 

academic, and numerical 

degeneracy. 

Oxford in the 1650s was 

recovering from the difficulties it 

had faced during the 

Civil War and its aftermath. 

A Royalist garrison 

and home to King 

Charles I, it had stopped 

teaching and written off 

a huge financial investment 

in the (ultimately 

unsuccessful) cause of 

the sovereign. In 1647- 

8, parliamentary visitors 

were commissioned to 

expel fellows deemed 

politically unsound. The 

college was ‘greatly distressed 

for want of arrears’, 

wrote Sub-Rector 

John Maudit: not only 

from unpaid rents from 

its tenants, but also from 

numerical stagnation. 

A further visitation 

was instituted in the 

mid-1650s, and was 

equally problematic: 

you can keep your head when all about you 

amid a series of disputes about 

the visitors’ legality and their attempt 

to abolish academic dress, 

jurisdictional conflict replaced 

academic disputation or administrative 

energy. While at 

Magdalen, seventy-eight members 

were expelled and at New sixtytwo: 

compared with Exeter, 

where only nineteen members 

were expelled from a much larger 

student body (Exeter was the second 

largest college), they were altered 

in a more dramatic way by 

the visitors. 

The actions of the parliamentary 

visitors were often less 

than successful, as a glance at our 

neighbours on the Turl shows. 

Parliament’s delegates intruded 

Jonathan Roberts as Principal of 

Jesus. Roberts was accused of 

embezzlement and the college was 

thrown into chaos. At Lincoln, 

they selected a group of ‘godly’ 

... prosperous and 

vibrant amid an 

Oxford marked by 

moral, academic, and 

numerical degeneracy. 

men for fellowships – but on arrival, 

having been selected for their 

‘piety’, they were immediately 

proved to be drunkards. Both 

Jesus and Lincoln Colleges saw 

their numbers drop – at Lincoln, 

matriculations were only 

one-quarter of their 

pre-war levels. 

At Exeter, though, the 

story was different. 

While Oxford in the 

1650s was characterised 

by indiscipline, administrative 

chaos, and academic 

degeneration, 

Exeter was a prosperous 

and growing society 

which equalled and 

exceeded its pre-war 

size. Part of the reason 

for this must have been 

the strength of the Rector, 

Dr. John Conant. 

Born in Ilchester in 

1608, he entered Exeter 

in 1627. He was elected 

to a fellowship in 1632, 

but left Oxford on the 

eve of the Civil War. 

When the Rector, Dr. 


19

Hakewill, died in 1649, Conant 

was elected to be Exeter’s Head 

of House. John Prideaux (Rector 

1612-42) quipped of him 

Conant nihil difficile: for Conant (literally, 

‘the one 

who is trying’), 

nothing is impossible. 

W h e n 

Conant became 

Rector, the wars 

had ‘reduced the 

number of students 

miserably 

short of what it 

was before’. 

Conant set about 

‘peopling his college’, 

in the words 

of his biographer, 

and seems to have 

been remarkably 

successful. The 

number of students 

at Exeter (excluding scholars 

and fellows) grew from 45 in 

1649 to 135 in 1653. In 1660 

there were over 180 resident – a 

... to ferret the young 

students from public 

and suspected houses 

threefold increase in just over a 

decade. When other colleges such 

as Lincoln saw their numbers stagnate 

well short of their pre-war 

levels, Exeter was prosperous. 

Conant also placed a 

renewed emphasis on discipline. 

His biographer notes, ‘He used 

frequently to take his rounds at 

late hours to ferret the young 

students from public and 

suspected houses’ – not a function 

exercised by more recent Heads 

of House! Academic discipline 

was restored, too, and Exeter 

flourished as a house of learning: 

Conant took great interest in 

disputations and lectures and 

often attended himself. As Vice- 

Chancellor he reformed the 

chaotic public disputations and 

encouraged sound scholarship 

and argument. Anthony Wood, 

Merton’s 17th century antiquary, 

records Conant’s election to the 

rectorship in 1649, adding, ‘where 

keeping up a severe discipline it 

flourished more than any other 

house in the university’. 

If Conant was a 

disciplinarian and academic 

reformer, he was also popular; his 

biographer records: ‘The students 

were many more than could be 

lodged within the walls, they 

crowded in here from all parts 

of the nation and some from 

beyond the sea…On his receiving 

the insignia of the office of Vice- 

Chancellor there was such a 

universal shout of a very full 

convocation as has hardly ever 

been known.’ 

The array of alumni Exeter 

produced during his tenure 

is impressive. As Conant’s biographer 

put it, ‘Exeter in his time 

afforded a Vice-Chancellor, a 

Proctor, a Doctor of the Church 

of Divinity, a Reader of Moral 

Philosophy, and of Rhetorick, a 

President to St. John’s, a Principal 

to Jesus, and a Divinity Professor 

to Magdalen…’ Exeter’s 

alumni indeed went on to wideranging 

careers. Thomas Brancker 

was a noted mathematician; Narcissus 

Marsh became Archbishop 

of Armagh; Francis Howell was 

later Principal of Jesus and Reader 

in moral philosophy. Thomas 

Clifford was ennobled and appointed 

principal Secretary of 

State; Gideon 

Harvey was a physician 

to Charles II. 

Two future Rectors 

were also tutored 

by Conant: William 

Paynter (elected 

1690) and Matthew 

Hole (elected 1716). 

Many Old Exonians 

were moving on to 

great things in 

church, state, and 

academia; the success 

of later careers 

Conant. 

demonstrate, in 

part, the quality of 

tuition at, and reputation 

of, Exeter 

under Rector 

John Conant’s career – like 

that of his more famous 

... a disciplinarian and 

academic reformer, he 

was also popular 

predecessor, Rector Prideaux – 

demonstrates an impressive 

range of theological, academic, 

and administrative skills. His 

contribution to the College’s life 

was immense, most particularly, 

in preserving discipline and 

academic standards while many 

other colleges suffered from 

numerical, behavioural, and 

educational decline. The Rector 

kept his (metaphorical) head and 

College its (literal) one while all 

about them were losing theirs; to 

shift the metaphor, with Conant’s 

hand on the tiller, Exeter 

weathered the stormy waters of 

the 1650s better than most of its 

counterparts. 


Exeter’s Senior Organ Scholar, Timothy Burke (2001, Music), 

has some exciting musical events planned... 

listen & 

ENJOY 

CD FOR SALE TO OLD MEMBERS 

This December the College Choir will record a CD of 

French sacred music to be issued in March 2003. The 

disc will feature the Messe Solennelle by Louis Vierne, 

chosen to showcase our French-style organ in its 

characteristic gothic acoustic. Other works from 

nineteenth-century France will be included, some 

favourites, and some rarely heard. My predecessor, 

Richard Hills, will return to record some solo organ 

music of the same provenance. We will be recording 

with Herald Records, who, having won a Gramophone 

CD of the month this year, will be sure to capture the 

choir at its very best. 

CDs are priced at £10 each plus £1 P&P, available from 

March 2003. Please make cheques payable to The 

Bursar, Exeter College and send to The Development 

Office, Exeter College, Oxford OX1 3DP). For further 

information please contact: 

Timothy.Burke@exeter.ox.ac.uk. 

CHOIR TOUR TO LONDON (SEE INSET) 

At the end of Michaelmas term, the College Choir will 

be giving a series of concerts in the centre of London. 

Over five days some seven concerts will be put on, in 

prestigious venues such as the Temple Church, and St 

Sepulchre-without-Newgate. As well as several City 

lunchtime recitals to choose from, there will be three 

major evening performances of Saint Nicolas by Britten, 

with orchestra, alongside other great works for 

Christmastide. Tickets start from £10 for adults and 

from £5 for concessions. Be sure to book early. For 

further information please contact: 

Timothy.Burke@exeter.ox.ac.uk. 

CHRISTOPHER HERRICK AND THE RECITAL SERIES 

This term, the Music Society will be hosting a series of 

organ recitals in aid of Save the Children. Amongst the 

prestigious recitalists taking part will be Christopher 

Herrick, a former Organ Scholar of the College, and 

now one of the world’s leading organists. Christopher’s 

numerous recordings for Hyperion include the complete 

works of J.S. Bach as well as the ever-popular Organ 

Fireworks series. ‘Unashamed displays of stunning 

virtuosity’ – Gramophone. For details of the whole 

series and to purchase tickets, please contact Timothy 

Burke: Timothy.Burke@exeter.ox.ac.uk. 

CHOIR TOUR ITINERARY 

Sunday 8 th December 

7.30 pm 

Concert 

Temple Church 

Monday 9 th December 

7.30 pm 

Concert 

St Bartholomew the Great 

Tuesday 10 th December 

1pm 

Recital 

St Sepulchre-without-Newgate 

Wednesday 11 th December (tbc) 

1 pm 

Recital 

Recital, All Hallows by the Tower 

Thursday 12 th December (tbc) 

7.30 pm 

Concert 

St Paul’s Knightsbridge 


21

The JCR has, over the years, amassed a truly impressive collection of twentieth century art. Peter 

Davis (1999, Music) describes his tenure as JCR Arts Officer and his response to the embarrassment of riches 

under his care 

From Piper to Parker 

The JCR Art collection 

From its inception over thirty-five years ago, 

the JCR Art Collection was intended to 

provide a body of contemporary art from 

which undergraduates could borrow works to 

display in their rooms. So what happens when 

the collection contains a few pieces of art that 

have risen considerably in value, pieces that 

cannot be insured to be looked after by one 

student, and are in urgent need of restoration? 

This was the situation 

that the Arts Committee 

found themselves in 

during the Michaelmas 

term 2001. 

The astute buying 

of the Arts Committee as 

it existed in the 1960s had 

left the current Arts Committee 

in a comfortable 

position. Yet the possession 

of some works by 

highly reputable modern 

artists also brought problems 

along with it. Eventually 

the JCR collectively 

decided to sell some of 

the pieces from the collection, 

and then to invest 

over half the money from 

this sale into contemporary 

works. The remainder 

has gone into the 

Michael Cohen Trust in 

the hope that a book grant 

scheme for future generations 

of Exonians might 

result. 

While retaining some important works in 

the collection, the arts committee could increase 

the scope of the collection by having less money 

tied up in individual works. An intense period of 

buying, together with a worried looking JCR treasurer, 

occupied the next few months. Acquisitions 

included works on canvas by Suan Evans, Thomas 

Beck and Andrew Clocker, lithographs by 

Ralph Gibson and Ed Ruscha, and photographs 

by Turner Prize nominee Cornelia Parker. The 

committee supported the Ruskin School of Art 

by purchasing etchings by student Rosie Wellesley. 

However, more notably, after purchasing William 

Kentridge’s series of mixed media etchings Zeno 

at 4am, it was realised that William was the son of 

Hon. Sydney Kentridge QC, former Exonian and 

honorary fellow of the College. Through new additions 

to the collection, the JCR forged links with 

Old Members. 

The Arts Committee also took this opportunity 

to commission new works. In the 1960s, 

the committee had commissioned John Minton’s 

Fishermen and John Piper’s 

Exeter College Chapel (left); 

mirroring this, the 2001 

Arts Committee commissioned 

the works by Thomas 

Beck and Andrew 

Crocker, together with 

Portrait of Oxford by Daniel 

Misser, recently completed, 

and soon to be 

presented to Exeter. 

With all of these 

new pieces, it was fitting 

to organize an exhibition. 

In March 2001 the Arts 

Committee displayed the 

show From Piper to Parker, 

a retrospective of JCR art 

from modern to contemporary. 

Held in Magdalen 

Auditorium against a 

backdrop of John Piper 

tapestries, we exhibited 

modern works by John 

Piper, R. B. Kitaj and 

David Hockney, juxtaposed 

with contemporary 

works by Cornelia Parker, Ed Ruscha and William 

Kentridge. We hope that Old Members might be 

able to support shows at Exeter in the future; perhaps 

an exhibition space at the college could be 

funded by a generous benefactor! 

Over the past year, the Exeter College Arts 

Committee has used the legacy of the existing art 

collection to add a contemporary edge to the collection, 

hopefully establishing a corpus of works 

that will be used by future Arts Committees. But 

most importantly, the committee has opened up a 

larger amount of works to a greater number of 

people. 


The Lost Art 

of the Junior 

Common 

Room 

The following is a list of art that is not accounted for 

when new inventories have been carried out. The 

works may have been sold, or lost from college or college 

hostels. 

Painting V by Suzanne Evans 

Missing since 

Albi - Stanley Anderson - etching 1986 

Reconstructing a Clyde Shipyard - Sir Muirhead Bone - lithograph 1992 

Business, The Iron Duke - John Clark - 2 bronze statuettes 1986 

Nue de la Mer - Philip Clerque - black and white photograph 1992 

Landscape with Smoke - Prunella Clough - oils on canvas 1996 

Evening Light on the Rockies - C J Collings 1966 

On the Medway, Allington - David Cox 1992 

Paracutin - Lisa Curtis - photograph 1996 

The Skates - Ken Danby - screenprint 1986 

Oxford: Godstow Bridge - Russell Flint 1990 

Girls’ School, 1936 - Anthony Gross - lithograph 1992 

Untitled Collage - John Harvey 1992 

Red Bermudas - Howard Hodgkin - poster print 1996 

2 x Abstract - Joanna Hughes - white chalk on black oil paint 1996 

Mary Anne - R B Kitaj - poster print 1992 

Le Tour a Comps-Sur-Artuby - Susan Macfarlane - pencil sketch 1986 

John Piper’s Garden - Paul Nash - watercolour 1986 

Moreton Corbett - John Piper - screenprint 1986 

Sacrifice Ofisaak - G B Pittoni - drawing 1979 

Man - Potholf - limited edition print 1992 

Dutch Priest - Sirajuddin - pastel 1992 

W M Morris - A T Smith - plaster relief 1973 

2 x Unnamed watercolours - Jerzy Stajuda 1986 

Watercolour - Corde Smith 1986 


23

Emily MacDonald, a DPhil student at Exeter, has been selected from over 

400 applicants world-wide to join a six-person crew to work at the Mars 

Society’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (F-MARS). At 24, she is 

the youngest and first British member of a team who will spend three weeks in 

simulation research units where they will effectively live and work in the conditions 

astronauts are thought likely to face on Mars. 

The Mars Society is an international organisation, spanning some 50 countries, 

and dedicated to the exploration and settlement of the planet. The design phase 

of the project has now been completed and recently two prototype habitat units 

were constructed on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic and in the desert in 

Utah. A third ‘hab’ will be built in Iceland in 2003 and the fourth and final unit 

in Australia the year after. Each of these locations aims to simulate in some way 

conditions thought to exist on Mars, either at present or earlier in the planet’s 

history. It is hoped that studying such sites will lead to new insights into the 

nature and evolution of Mars, and perhaps Earth itself. The test phase crews 

will carry out a wide range of geological and biological experiments, test the 

design features of the habitat itself as well as prototypes of equipment that may 

be used on the surface of Mars. In a very real way, Emily MacDonald will be 

helping to develop protocols and procedures that will enable human missions to 

Mars in the future. 

The ‘hab’ on Devon Island, 27 ft tall and 27 ft in diameter, has been home since 

July to Emily and her fellow crew members: the team includes three American 

and two German members. Emily has also been selected as the first British 

member of the Mars Desert Research Station, due to take place later this year, 

and in doing so will become the first British member of any MRDS science crew. 

Emily said: ‘The MARS project is one of the first real physical steps towards 

human exploration of Mars. I am delighted to be a part of it and proud to be 

representing my country.’ 

Bo Maxwell, President of the Mars Society UK, added: ‘This is a very gratifying 

move for the United Kingdom. Public interest in space-related activities in this 

country is exceptionally high. Emily’s selection to the F-MARS crew this summer 

demonstrates that Britons can take a pro-active role in human space exploration’. 

Emily’s ambition, after completing her DPhil at Exeter, is to apply to NASA, the 

American space agency, or The European Space Agency, for a place on the astronaut 

training programme. 


Photo copyright Venture Portraits, Irvine 


25

Roll of Honour 

Member of the 

Court of 

Benefactors 

Sir Ronald Cohen 

Stapeldon 

Benefactor 

Mr Mark Houghton-Berry 

Honorary 

Members of the 

SCR 

Mr BN Carnegie-Brown 

Mr CWA Cotton 

Mr KR Fox 

Mr PP Kuczynski 

Dr B Philips 

Professor JA Quelch 

Dr K Sahin 

Donors to the Old 

Members’ fund by 

Matriculation Year 

Exonians who have donated 

1 AUGUST 2001 TO 31 JULY 2002 

Exeter College would like to 

thank the following Old 

Members and Friends who 

have donated to the annual 

giving campaign, given specific 

donations or left legacies. 

Thank you too to all 

those Old Members who 

have supported Exeter in the 

past. 

Great effort has been made to 

ensure that this list is accurate. 

However there may be mistakes 

or omissions, for which 

we apologise in advance. 

Please let us know of any errors 

and we will be happy to 

print corrections in the next 

issue of Exon. 

Please note that all figures 

given are net. If you pay tax 

in the UK, Exeter is able to 

reclaim approximately 28p 

for each £1 donated through 

Gift Aid. For example, a donation 

by you of £400 is 

worth £512.82 to Exeter. If 

you are a higher rate tax 

payer, you could reclaim 

£92.30 in tax, making the net 

cost to you £307.70. (These 

figures are based on a UK base 

tax rate of 22% and a higher 

rate of 40%). 

Recognition by Exeter College 

of benefaction is conferred 

in accordance with 

Inland Revenue donor benefit 

rules (3.28; 3.29) 

Key: 

Name of volunteer 

T = total given 

P = participation rate 

(total number in 

matriculation year/ 

donors*100) 

Years with forthcoming 

gaudies have the gaudy 

dates given in red. 

Pre 1941 

Mr Harry James 

T: £9630 

US$2700 

P: 26% 

1927 

Mr EGS Apedaile 

1930 

Mr TL Avery 

1931 

Professor HF 

Walton 

1932 

Mr AM Sturrock 

1934 

Anonymous 

Mr CGTL 

Chittenden 

Mr EP Sharman 

Mr JR Williams III 

1935 

Mr JTH Macnair 

Mr JG Williamson 

1937 

Dr M Aung-Din 

Group Captain HH 

Eccles 

Mr WF Fowle 

Prof LP Le Quesne 

Mr RA Raby 

1938 

Mr WJ Baulkwill 

Mr RRW Chadburn 

The Reverend AJ 

Long 

Dr MN Prichard 

The Reverend DJC 

Weber 

1939 

Mr DJ 

Cowperthwaite 

Mr PGC Forbes 

The Reverend 

Canon GE Hudson 

The Reverend 

Prebendary TP 

Jones 

Dr JFW McOmie 

Mr HC Rallison 

1940 

Anonymous 

The Very Reverend 

TGA Baker 

Mr JB Cooper 

Mr AH Fogg 

Mr LC Jackson 

Dr PS Carton-Kelly 

Mr JM Osborne 

The Reverend RT 

Urwin 

Dr EG Walsh 

1941 

Mr Harry James 

T: £1318 

P: 33% 

Mr JD Cox 

Mr TGH James 

Dr WED Markland 

Professor P Rickard 

1942 

Vacant 

T: £1806 

P: 29% 

Mr EM Batchelor 

Mr HNW Fletcher 

Mr G Fulleylove 

Professor DW 

Hamlyn 

Dr J Hatton 

Mr AL Preston 

1943 

Mr Brian Murgatroyd 

T: £2416 

US$400 

P: 53% 

Mr FC Ashby 

Mr ASC Barker 

The Reverend KM 

Harre 

Mr FW Hemming 

Mr RAC Holden 

Mr MI Horniman 

Mr RG Jenkin 

Mr BL Murgatroyd 

Professor DE 

Underdown 

Dr RE Watkins 

1944 

Dr Colin Baskett 

T: £1293 

P: 35% 

Mr PG Adlard 

Mr MG Ball 

Dr AC Baskett 

Mr RJ Bickerton 

Mr BG Pemberton 

Mr IAF Purslow 

The Reverend HJ 

Trenchard 

1945 

Mr Roy Somerset 

T: £1857 

CDN$200 

P: 40% 

Mr MF Baron 

The Reverend JA 

Benton 

The Hon Mr Justice 

DG Blair 

Mr MF Bruce 

Mr AD Dalman 

Mr JR Davies 

Mr GV Hancock 

Mr RTE Hudson 

Mr JAD Jeffreys 

Mr BW Oakley 

Dr MA Smith 

Mr FDB Somerset 

Mr DR Spriggs 

Professor AF Walls 

Mr WM West 

1946 

The Reverend Michael 

Berry 

T: £1463 

P: 32% 

Anonymous 

Dr RB Barlow 

The Reverend M 

Berry 

Mr DJ Crisp 

Mr MKMF 

Egleston 

Mr HW Gamon 

Dr EANS Jeffries 

Mr HIL McWhinnie 

Captain JRT Pollard 

Mr MB Spring 

Mr KSG Wills 

Mr JV Kinnier- 

Wilson 

1947 

Mr Paul Atyeo 

T: £1789 

P: 33% 

Anonymous 

Anonymous 

Mr HPB Atyeo 

Mr PN Clancy 

Mr RK Gilkes 

Professor MB Line 

Mr AFJ Marshall 

Mr RA Le Page 

Mr JN Saunders 

Mr GWA Sparkes 

Mr N de l’E W 

Thomas 

Professor S Walker 

1948 

Mr Arnold Reuben 

T: £4933 

P: 37% 

Anonymous 

Mr JG Armstrong 

Mr CD Barnett 

Mr JE Bury 

Mr JP Collis 

Mr AB Evans 

Dr KP Ferris 

Mr HH Hellin 

The Reverend 

Canon D Jackson 


Mr IJ Kremer 

Mr RWV Peake 

Dr B Phillips 

Mr J S Probert 

Mr RH Robinson 

Mr SJQ Robinson 

Sir RM Russell 

Mr REG Smith 

Mr PH Spriddell 

Sir KR Stowe 

Dr BW Tiffen 

The Reverend DH 

Watts 

Mr WM Wearne 

Mr GL Whiteside 

Mr JL Wicker 

Mr RC Wigg 

Mr CE Winn 

Mr GEM Yates 

1949 

Vacant 

T: £1074 

US$100 

CDN$250 

P: 14% 

Dr S Ardeman 

Mr RFA Brown 

Professor A Cassels 

Mr J Drewett 

Mr PF Guggenheim 

Professor FHH 

King 

Mr JR Orchard 

Mr DA Rolfe 

1950 

Dr Henry Will 

T: £2624 

CDN$200 

P: 23% 

Anonymous 

Professor CSR 

Churcher 

Mr RJ Clifford 

Mr DA Cockerill 

Mr JT Creighton 

Professor AG 

Falconer 

Dr ES Mucklow 

Mr ENC Oliver 

Mr RC Wheway 

Dr HA Will 

Mr RR Winn 

1951 

Mr Ian Hargraves 

Mr Peter Ryan 

T: £4673 

CDN$100 

P: 25% 

Anonymous 

Mr DT Baskett 

Mr C Clowes 

Mr GD Cove 

The Reverend DW 

Gatenby 

Mr BC Hall 

Mr I Hargraves 

Mr J McCann 

Mr JR Midwinter 

Mr BMK Moore 

Mr DH Poole 

Dr ACP Pugh 

Dr CG Richards 

His Honour Judge 

GH Rooke 

Mr PF Ryan 

Dr DJ Shorney 

Mr PJ Southgate 

Mr JD Sykes 

1952 

Mr Stan Holloway 

Mr Tony Moreton 

T: £2779 

P: 31% 

Mr A Appleby 

Professor JM Argyle 

Mr FWP Bentley 

Mr MJS Carter 

Mr CB Cowey 

Mr BP Fisher 

Mr IGD Garvie 

The Reverend EJ 

Henstridge 

Mr JL Heritage 

Lord Williamson of 

Horton 

Mr VA Kitch 

Rev WCW Lake 

Mr AJ Moreton 

Mr WE Pankhurst 

Dr WG Roberts 

The Reverend DF 

Sharpe 

Mr JC Sheppard 

Mr RJ Tayler 

Mr VD 

Vandervelde 

Dr DJ Wayne 

Dr BR Wilkey 

1953 

Mr Ian Hollands 

T: £2717 

US$500 

P: 32% 

Anonymous 

Mr PG Barlow 

Mr JL Buchanan 

Dr BA Carré 

Mr NHK Coleman 

Mr P Dutton 

Mr S Eadie 

Mr DE Garrood 

Mr ID Hollands 

Mr RE Kendall 

Mr DB Kethero 

Mr MH Lockton 

Mr MB Mendoza 

Mr B Park 

Mr EG Pride 

Mr FJ Roper 

Mr WA Sanders 

Mr MB Sargent 

Mr JS Welch 

Mr AN Willis 

Mr JD Wilson 

Dr CP van Zyl 

1954 

Mr John Partridge 

Mr Alan Shallcross 

T: £5364 

US$300 

P: 25% 

Anonymous 

Anonymous 

Dr WJ Appleyard 

Dr KW Arnold 

Mr A Bennett 

Mr IL Billinge 

Mr J Boulter 

Mr BW Coulson 

Mr PN Evans 

Mr E Eyre 

Mr NR Graves 

Mr MA Heap 

Mr PD de Iongh 

Mr VWF Kemp 

Mr JB Oxford 

Mr JP Partridge 

Mr JP Saunders 

Professor RG 

Swinburne 

1955 

Mr Neville Sheard 

T: £3971 

US$2500 

P: 30% 

Mr JR Adams 

Mr TH Barma 

Mr RA Billings 

Mr FN Cooper 

Mr DR Davies 

Dr DCP Hopkins 

Mr RW Horrell 

Mr GK Lloyd 

Mr EJ Locker 

Mr RJO Lovell 

Mr C Prapopulos 

Mr BD Roden 

Dr JH Rogers 

Dr RF Savadove 

Mr RJ Schork 

Mr AJ Seager 

Mr JN Sheard 

The Reverend Canon 

G Walker 

Dr ARG Wallace 

Mr AE Paton Walsh 

Judge KH Zucker 

1956 

Mr John Goslin 

T: £2402 

US$600 

P: 18% 

Mr HG Barrett 

Mr AL Briddon 

Mr AJ Buckoke 

Mr RMD Cardew 

Mr DE Culver 

Mr MRH Gittins 

Mr J Goslin 

Mr SM Harley 

Mr RM Latham 

Mr JFL Lea 

Associate Professor 

DC Sniegowski 

Mr JG Speirs 

Mr MP Stambach 

Prof RV Wolfenden 

Mr M Woodgett 

1957 

His Honor Judge 

Michael Lightfoot 

Professor Arthur 

Morris 

T: £5900 

US$100 

P: 24% 

Mr MJ Collins 

Mr MB 

Cunningham 

Professor P Elbow 

Mr JS Gold 

Mr A Grocott 

Mr CG Harrison 

Mr GS Harrison 

Mr KJ Hester 

Mr RW Johnson 

Mr RF Jones 

His Honour Judge 

GM Lightfoot 

Mr IFM Milne 

Professor AS Morris 

Mr RSL Penn 

Mr DE Rodway 

Mr SG Salway 

Mr CH Sutton 

Mr JI Wear 

Mr MD Whitear 

Mr CHR Wood 

1958 

Mr Roger Thorn 

T: £1663 

US$4006 

P: 15% 

The Venerable Dr 

JMM Dalby 

Mr SJD Gegg 

Mr DM Heilbron 

Mr KJ Hirshman 

Mr NR Hyde 

Dr DJE Knight 

Mr AD Low 

Mr SGD Malone 

Mr TO Merren 

Professor JS Nye 

Mr DG Sullivan 

Mr MC Taylor 

1959 

Mr Peter Hobbs 

T: £3667 

P: 31% 

Mr ML Bannister 

Mr E Bromley 

Dr GG Chandler 

Mr M Clark 

Mr J Davie 

Mr MED Davis 

Mr PW Findell 

Mr RML Fysh 

Dr WJM Gissane 

Dr PWM Gordon 

Dr CP Green 

Mr TJ Harrison 

Mr PTG Hobbs 


27

Mr SP Johnson 

Mr TJ Jones 

Mr M Langford 

Mr I McCubbin 

Mr JR Parsons 

Mr DS Rowe 

Professor M 

Schofield 

Mr M Squire 

Mr CJ Storr 

Mr RHM Sweet 

Mr GM Tisdall 

1960 

Mr Alan Broomhead 

Mr Tony Cole 

T: £2186 

US$1100 

P: 19% 

Anonymous 

Mr SCM Beal 

Mr RA Broomhead 

Mr AP Cole 

Mr PM Dormor 

Mr CR Jervis 

Prof ES Newlands 

Mr AJ Nisbett 

Dr DG Pattison 

Mr JH Rowe 

Mr NE Salmon 

Mr JCL Sharp 

Mr P Tyler 

Dr R Wilcher 

1961 

Vacant 

T: £878 

US$3500 

P: 13% 

Mr JC Barber 

Mr FK Cowey 

Mr RJ Hannam 

Dr JA Horsley 

Mr JA Kufuor 

Mr RR Marshall 

Mr PWJ Moffatt 

The Reverend SJ Pix 

Mr SH Siddall 

1962 

Mr John Armstrong 

Mr Ian Potts 

T: £5702 

P: 12% 

Mr JR Armstrong 

Mr HEW Bostock 

Mr W Flett 

Mr FBW James 

Mr PNC Lee 

Mr IM Potts 

Mr ER Saunders 

Mr JG Smith 

Mr AJ Targett 

Mr CG Timms 

1963 

Mr Andrew Walker 

T: £3870 

US$160 

P: 18% 

Professor I Crewe 

Mr JCS Frood 

Mr RWJ Garbett 

Dr RA Hazelwood 

Professor DB Hicks 

Mr CN Davidson 

Kelly 

The Right Honourable 

Lord Justice 

JGM Laws 

Mr CJ Pott 

Mr DH Slater 

Professor RT 

Smythe 

Mr PDA Sutch 

Mr AD Walker 

Mr PR Walters 

Mr DA Wilson 

1964 

Mr Michael Preston 

Mr John Symons 

T: £4155 

P: 25% 

Anonymous 

Anonymous 

Anonymous 

Mr AKL Addison 

Mr WJ Ainsworth 

Mr CG Allen 

Mr JO Alpass 

Mr D Badcock 

Mr G Bartram 

Mr R Bligh 

Mr MV Bradley 

Mr I Cartwright 

Mr CA Holroyd 

Mr IC Lumsden 

Mr AF Magauran 

Mr ID McGowan 

Mr BR Patrick 

Mr JM Snell 

Mr JJ Symons 

Professor RKS 

Taylor 

Mr DJ Underdown 

1965 

Gaudy: 28 June 2003 

Dr John Vinson 

T: £1657 

US$250 

P: 8% 

Mr DB Hooks 

Mr MA Hoskins 

Mr M Moroney 

Mr CR Smallwood 

Mr AR Thomson 

Mr RHG Thomson 

Mr TA Vanderver 

Jnr 

1966 


Mr Terry Walton 

T: £2168 

US$2750 

CND$200 

P: 26% 

Anonymous 

Anonymous 

Mr KN Atkey 

Mr RW Bachman 

Dr RW Barker 

Professor HG Beale 

Mr DAH Ewing 

Professor RM 

Gorczynski 

Mr H Heard 

Mr MG Lanning 

Mr JR Lenton 

Mr JW McKeown 

The Right Reverend 

AE Osborne 

Mr JT Penner 

Mr D Pow 

Mr KN Simons 

Mr NJ Stokes 

Mr AJ Symons 

Mr T Walton 

1967 


Mr Henry Brown 

T: £2137 

P: 19% 

Mr HB Brown 

Mr MT Fain 

Mr CHA Hawker 

Mr MM Krantz 

The Reverend JR 

Landon 

Mr MG Langley 

Mr NA Lethbridge 

Mr AG McBride 

Mr DR Norgrove 

Mr CC Oram 

Professor RAG 

Pearson 

Mr PK Ratcliffe 

Very Reverend 

Monsignor GF 

Read 

Dr MG Schultz 

Mr DA Watson 

1968 


Mr Mark Allen 

T: £1684 

P: 11% 

Mr MJS Allen 

Mr DJ Beaumont 

Mr IN Cooper 

Dr AJ Davis 

Mr JE Fassnidge 

Mr MJ Ferris 

The Reverend JW 

Fulton 

Mr AJP Sykes 

Mr RJ Weekes 

1969 


Professor John Quelch 

Dr Richard Harries 

T: £1414 

P: 9% 

Dr HA Chojnicki 

Mr PM Cooke 

Dr MJ Griffiths 

Dr RWJ Harries 

Mr MP Lee 

Mr RJ Lowman 

Mr MJ Poultney 

1970 

Mr Peter Wilson 

T: £1476 

US$200 

P: 10% 

Anonymous 

Mr GE Bennett 

Mr AC Harvey 

Dr ID Lawrie 

Mr AE Reekes 

Mr RPH Sparks 

Mr PS Wilson 

Mr SL Wilson 

1971 

Mr Peter Mieville 

T: £7360 

US$1200 

P: 18% 

Mr PJ Agius 

Mr S Bhattacharya 

Mr DC Boyce 

Mr GD Hall 

Professor D 

Kwiatkowski 

Mr PJ Mann 

Mr AR McKeane 

Mr PMA Nokes 

Mr RS Nycum 

Mr TP O’Brien 

Mr AJ Parker 

Mr J Ratcliffe 

Mr RB Simons 

Mr AE Martin- 

Smith 

Mr AGN Walter 

Professor P Willett 

1972 

Mr Nick Byrne 

T: £1952 

P: 6% 

Mr SJ Gale-Batten 

Mr JG Hardman 

Mr PS Marks 

Mr KJ Le Page 

Dr AM Smith 

Mr IR Webb 

1973 

Mr Murray Feely 

Mr Keith Fox 

Mr George Roffe- 

Silvester 

T: £611 

US$10000 

P: 7% 

Mr S Dawson 

Mr JC Howard- 

Drake 

Mr KR Fox 

Mr DJ Frith 

Mr AC Carlton- 

Oatley 

Mr CG Roffe- 

Silvester 

Dr JKH Wales 

1974 

Vacant 


T: £1057 

P: 8% 

Mr JM Holt 

Dr RL Jarvest 

Mr PA O’Brien 

Dr CW Perrett 

Mr P Sanders 

Dr DJ Seddon 

Mr J Siviter 

Mr ID Smith 

1975 

Mr Giles Emerson 

Mr Alan Newton 

T: £1342 

US$3525 

P: 11% 

Anonymous 

Mr GN Emerson 

Dr SJ Hill 

Mr GW Lanyon 

Mr DJ Lawley 

Mr AM Newton 

Mr RH Parkinson 

Mr PJ Shadbolt 

Mr M Shaddick 

Mr JP Tinker 

Mr PL Yudelman 

1976 

Mr Russell Gardner 

Mr Mark Houghton- 

Berry 

T: £8667 

P: 18% 

Mr CE Anderson 

Mr GJ Ayre 

Mr MH Ballman 

Mr N Burton 

Mr RN Kendall- 

Carpenter 

Mr DJ Clark 

Mr GH Edwards 

Mr CSR Fox 

Mr JQ Gildersleve 

Mr NJ Gregory 

Mr LLJ Lawrence 

Mr JLR Melotte 

Mr AM Paton 

Mr RME Reuben 

Mr AJS Rollo 

Mr R Rudkowskyj 

Mr NC Taunt 

Mr RJ Waterfield 

1977 

Mr Roger Fink 

Mr Chisanga Puta- 

Chekwe 

T: £500 

P: 4% 

Anonymous 

Mr DK Blower 

Mr RM Harrison 

Mr Chisanga Puta- 

Chekwe 

Mr MN Thomas 

1978 

Mr Toby Wallis 

T: £9228 

US$100 

P: 18% 

Mr NAO Bennett 

Mr BN Carnegie- 

Brown 

Mr MJ Camp 

Mr RM Davidson 

Mr PM Edgerton 

Mr CRE Gillott 

Mr EG Harland 

Mr DA Lambert 

Dr JC McCabe 

Dr ACM Ong 

Mr FA Scott 

Mr CPT Wallis 

Mr D Weber 

Dr ED West 

Mr DG Wheeler 

Mr PJ Woodbridge 

1979 

Mr Christopher Allner 

T: £1671 

US$100 

P: 9% 

Mr CC Allner 

Mr CL Anderson 

Mrs JK Bond 

Mr IC Bradbury 

Mr PW Jackson 

Mr RG Morris 

Professor JM 

Nathan 

Mr JA Shine 

Mr D Stewart 

1980 

Vacant 

T: £627 

P: 7% 

Mrs YM Ashton 

Mr AJ Goldsworthy 

Mr RJ Haynes 

Mr AH Hobart 

Mr MR Bowen- 

Jones 

Mr JK Thomas 

1981 

Vacant 

T: £525 

P: 4% 

Miss RC Billinge 

Mr WM Macharg 

Mr DA Schneider 

Mr RJ Williams 

1982 

Vacant 

T: £1936 

P: 13% 

Anonymous 

Anonymous 

Mr PH Akroyd 

Mr MR Clemoes 

Mr MN Davis 

Mr CPJ Digby 

Mr RJ Harrison 

Mr CJ Archer-Lock 

Mrs TC McDonald 

Mr DAP Skinner 

Mr AHK Smail 

1983 

Mr Andy Anson 

T: £1023 

CND$40 

P: 8% 

Mrs LM Bell 

Mr RA Blades 

Mr CD Carter 

Mr CB Clarke 

Ms AJ Kelly 

Dr BJ Lunnon 

Mr DJ Marriage 

Mr CG 

Shuttleworth 

1984 

Mr Charles Outhwaite 

T: £1283 

US$1500 

P: 6% 

Ms VSB Cech 

Mr GM Healey 

Mr C Outhwaite 

Mr MWL Richards 

Mrs JA Stubbs 

Miss EA Whittaker 

1985 

Mr Adrian Monck 

T: £770 

P: 4% 

Mr RJF Everitt 

Mr MR Hammer 

Ms AL Manaker 

Dr LA Whitehurst 

1986 

Mrs Amanda Williams 

T: £898 

P: 6% 

Mr DC Harrison 

Mrs EJ Langley 

Miss MT Rogers 

Mr JWA Sanders 

Mr M A Schelble 

Mr NP Stretch 

1987 

Vacant 

T: £264 

P: 2% 

Mr RJ Long 

Mrs HE Pridmore 

1988 

Vacant 

T: 

P: 1% 

Mr MR Fitton 

1989 

Mr Justin Brett 

Miss Samantha Stayte 

T: £354 

P: 4% 

Mr EKD Bush 

Mr JP Connelly 

Mr NS Leyland 

Dr J Morrison 

Mr SS Best-Shaw 

1990 

Dr Matthew Preston 

Mr Jonathan Raveney 

T: £268 

P: 2% 

Ms RJ Knubley 

Miss VA Palmer- 

Moore 

1991 

Vacant 

T: £233 

P: 3% 

Anonymous 

Mrs AM Baker 

Mrs C Bansal 

Dr VIK Mohan 

1992 

Vacant 

T: £854 

CND$100 

P: 3% 

Dr I Chen 

Mr TJ Houghton 

Mr TSP O’Sullivan 

Mr P Samant 

1993 

Vacant 

T: £244 

P: 3% 

Ms CA Brennan 

Councillor RN 

Child 

Mr RDL Ellis 

Mr BR Merrick 

1994 

Vacant 

T: £171 

P: 1% 

Dr M Jackson 

Mr RWJ Rous 

Post 1995 

T: £489 

US$205 

CND$300 

P: 2% 

1995 

Vacant 

Mr R G Lloyd 

1996 

Gaudy: 11 January 

2003 

Mr Alastair Brown 

Mr NT Sahin 


29

1997 

Gaudy: 11 January 2003 

Dr Dorothy Kennedy 

Mr Kenneth Padley 

Dr DI Kennedy 

Mr KPJ Padley 

Ms KY Woo 

1998 

Gaudy: 11 January 2003 

Ms Hannah Lownsbrough 

Mr Benjamin Moxham 

Ms LE Jackson 

1999 

Vacant 

Mr R P Heatley 

2000 

Vacant 

Mr SW Kim 

Mr B Langdon 

EXETER GALLERY 

Lynn and Bart Holaday (1965, PPE) with Emeritus Fellows Walter Eltis 

(far left) and Christopher Kirwan(far right) 

Exeter Fellows and 

Friends 

Professor Marilyn Butler 

Dr Walter Eltis 

Dr Jonathan Snicker 

Mr Alvaro Cartea 

Dr Peter Johnson 

Dr Peter Jones 

Professor Cyril Mango 

Mr Jonathan Marks 

Mr SCM Beal 

Mr JL Buchanan 

Mr Michael Schelble 

Ms Jacqueline Bryan- 

Tobias 

Mrs Elizabeth Gili 

Mrs Martha Kneale 

Mr Barry Langdon 

Mrs Jean Martin 

Mrs Rosaleen Murphy 

Mr & Mrs R Resch 

Mr & Mrs Michael and 

Elaine Treleaven 

Dr RM Wadsworth 

Miss Valerie Worthington 

Boston Consulting 

Group 

JPMorgan 

Percy Hedley Trust 

Sharon Harel-Cohen (far right) and Ronald Cohen (1964, PPE) with 

Frederica Adam (far left) and Ben Morison, the Michael Cohen Fellow in 

Ancient Philosophy 

Reverend Philip G. Pym Cornish (1921) pictured receiving his 

congratulatory card from the Queen. He celebrated his 100th 

birthday on 21 December 2001. 

re you able to spare some time to help Exeter College? 

AVolunteers are needed for several matriculation years 

and we hope that some of our readers may be able to 

help. Our current volunteers provide essential information 

and contact with their year group that helps the College 

to raise funds and enhance the strong links between Old 

Members and College. If you can spare the time and 

you matriculated in any of the following years, we would 

be very happy to hear from you: -1942; 1949; 1961; 1974; 

1980; 1981; 1982; 1987; 1988; 1989; 1991; 1992; 1994; 

1995. Please contact the Development Office for more 

information. 


NEWS FROM OLD MEMBERS 

Edited by Christopher Kirwan 

For this new feature, Old Members have been 

invited to report their doings to Exon. Here is an 

edited version of the result. The intention is to make 

the feature a permanency — and therefore, of course, 

to expand it, steadily and abundantly. Please do send 

in your news. 

The address to write to is: EXON - News From 

Old Members, The Development Office, Exeter 

College, Oxford, OX1 3DP. 

Email: development@exeter.ox.ac.uk 

The editing has been done by Christopher Kirwan, 

who was an Oxford undergraduate at Magdalen from 

1952 to 1956, a Lecturer in Philosophy at Merton and 

Exeter from 1959 to 1960, and a Fellow and Tutor in 

Philosophy at Exeter from 1960 to 2000. He now 

lives in retirement in Oxford. 

Entries are listed by matriculation years. 

1931 

Harold F. Walton reports that he is living in 

Boulder, Colorado. He is—wait for it—retired! 

1938 

David E. Carey came to Exeter as a Rhodes 

Scholar in 1938, and returned to Canada a year later 

when war broke out. In March 2000 he played in the 

International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Seniors 

Singles and Doubles in Cape Town, when men and 

women aged 55 to 85 competed. There he won the 

85s-and-over Singles and Doubles. Last year, May 

2001, playing in Perth, Australia, he lost the Singles Finals 

but won the Doubles. The ITF does not have an official 

90s bracket, but the USTA does. ‘I am looking 

forward,’ he proclaims, ‘to competing in that in 2003.’ 

1943 

Fred Hemming reports that he is living at Burbank, 

California. 

1946 

Keith Egleston writes, ‘My memories of Exeter 

are that it was a very friendly college with a lovely 

garden. However, after six years in the Army—Western 

Desert, North-west Europe, sometime ADC to S.A. 

CinC Mediterranean—I found the petty restrictions 

irksome and so moved into lodgings. My memory of 

dons: Rector Barber remote but very courteous; Nevill 

Coghill an inspiration to all who came into his orbit; 

Dacre Balsdon made me more frightened of 

Philosophy (sic) than I was before—but so enjoyable. 

I shall always be grateful to my tutor Greig Barr, and 

to the College for accepting me.’ 

1947 

Richard B. Gilman has celebrated his 80 th birthday 

with a sky-dive. Born in Vancouver B.C., he joined the 

RAF as an 18 year old in 1940, qualified as a fighter 

pilot, and served in a Spitfire squadron on convoy and 

fleet protection duties to the north of the British Isles, 

later moving to Biggin Hill in Kent. In late 1941 he 

was seriously wounded in a mid-air collision while 

returning with his squadron from trying to cover a 

commando raid off the coast of Nazi-occupied 

France. He came to Exeter after leaving the RAF as a 

Flight Lieutenant in 1947, and from 1952 to 1980 he 

followed a career in Ontario education. Currently he 

describes himself as an educational consultant, freelance 

writer, university tutor and crisis counsellor. 

He doesn’t tell us how he escaped from the 1941 

collision, but it was not by parachute. ‘I have always 

wanted,’ he writes, ‘to do the parachute jump I was 

unable to do 61 years ago...’ 

1950 

Charles S. Churcher writes, ‘I have been working 

for the past 16 years in the Oasis of Dakhleh as the 

vertebrate palæontologist and also participating in the 

geological survey of stratigraphy and geomorphology 

of the oasis. Investigations of the fossil faunas have 

revealed a terrestrial or littoral Cretaceous dinosaur 

fauna and a Mid-Pleistocene mammalian fauna. Both 

of these are important as they are either little known 

or the first for north-east Africa. The work is 

sponsored under the Dakhleh Oasis Project, which 

includes research on all aspects of the oasis, from 

bedrock geology, biology, Palæolithic and Neolithic 

cultures, to Pharaonic, Hellenic/Ptolemaic, Romano- 


31

Members of Exeter visit HMS Exeter 

Byzantine, Arab and later civilisations’ records. 

1951 

David Shorney retired in 1986 from Avery Hill 

College, London (now the University of Greenwich), 

where he had taught History since 1974. Since then he 

has devoted his time to historical research and voluntary 

work. In 1989 he published a history of Avery Hill 

College entitled Teachers in Training, 1906–1985. In 1996 

the Public Record Office brought out the guide he was 

asked to write, Protestant Nonconformity and Roman 

Catholicism. He is currently writing a history of a lesser 

known 19th century Nonconformist denomination, the 

Bible Christians. Much of his time has also been 

devoted to working with the homeless and marginalised. 

In 1991 he set up the Aldo Trust in Bradford, one of 

whose objectives is to provide short-term 

accommodation for young single homeless people. In 

the 1990s he worked for a time for the Attlee 

Foundation and also the Public Record Office. In 1992 

he was made an honorary Visiting Research Fellow at 

the University of Bradford. 

Joseph Donald Sykes has enjoyed BBC broadcasts 

and CD recordings of Exeter music, and wants more 

about music in Exon. 

1952 

The Rev. Desmond M. Buike retired from fulltime 

ministry in 1993 to live at Whitby, where he has 

the Archbishop of York’s permission to officiate in 

that diocese. He and his wife Dorothy have three 

children and four grandchildren, and are both of them 

members of the Y.H.A., the Labour Party, and Whitby 

Ramblers. Dot enjoys driving, and he himself works 

in local parishes most Sundays; is there a connexion, 

the editor wonders. They often go on holiday abroad, 

to Gozo or Poland for preference. 

Jan Witold Weryho has published a novel, Return 

to Oxford (Durham: Pentland Press 2001, ISBN 

1828218381, £12.50) which includes descriptions of 

Exeter, and is reported to be on sale through Blackwells 

and John Smith. According to the Foreword by John 

Dougill, Associate Professor of English Literature at 

Ryukoku University, Kyoto, the hero Dr Sean O’Malley, 

an Irish-Canadian professor on a sabbatical year, ‘casts 

a dispassionate eye over the ‘Englishness’ of Oxford. 

This is accentuated by the exotic nature of the heroine, 

Morvarid Cama, whose appearance and Zoroastrian 

background capture O’Malley’s heart.....Return to Oxford 

brings East and West together in the fertile fictional space 

occupied by the many descendants of Chaucer’s 

Nicholas (The Miller’s Tale).’ 

1956 

Ian G. Philip would like to announce the birth of 

a twin boy and girl to himself and wife Gillian in June 

2001. His five other children (one boy, 4 girls) were 

born in 1961, 1968, 1969 and 1971. He is now semiretired 

as a Chartered Accountant, but does not feel 

unoccupied! 

Andrew Tracey received an honorary doctorate 

from the University of Natal in 1995, and became 

Professor at Rhodes University, Grahamstown in 

December last. He continues to direct the International 

Library of African Music (ILAM), and has just been 

granted a 3-year stay of retirement in order to finish 

the project to digitise the entire ILAM archive of 

recordings made over 70 years by his father Hugh, 

himself, and others. He continues to lead his steel band, 

now emulated by at least 100 others in South Africa. 

1957 

Eric Bergbusch is living in Ottawa, Ontario. 

1958 

Karl Jonathan Hirshman writes, ‘Poppy and I have 

moved to southern Arizona. Two of our five children 

live in Tucson. It was an easy choice for a retirement 

location. Our home is only a half mile from the 

University of Arizona. We are enjoying the cultural 

attractions of a larger city, golf, reading and family. After 

working for 40 years, I thought retirement would be 

boring. It isn’t. The days seem to pass too quickly. We 

would be happy to entertain any Exonians visiting the 

‘Old Pueblo’, especially those from the late ‘50s.’ 

1964 

Duncan M. Matheson has been a Consultant 

Surgeon at Macclesfield District General Hospital for 

the past 18 years. He is married with four older children, 


two of whom are doctors, and three younger ones 

still at school. 

Richard Taylor is Professor of Continuing 

Education at the University of Leeds, and Dean of 

the Faculty of Business, Law, Education and Social 

Studies. He is author of For a Radical Higher Education: 

after postmodernism, Open University Press 2002. He 

reports that Michael Newman, 1964, is Professor 

of Contemporary European History at the University 

of North London, and the author of a biography of 

Ralph Miliband, Merlin Press 2002. 

1966 

John Anthony Whelan is now a freelance financial 

journalist specialising in emerging markets, capital 

markets and financial technology. He left the Risk 

Waters Group in August 2001, a month before the 

World Trade Center atrocity that killed 16 of his excolleagues. 

He is leader of the 

Conservative group on Lambeth 

council and stood for Parliament for 

Northampton North in 2001. His 

younger son Fenton has won a Fletcher 

Scholarship to read Oriental Studies 

(Arabic) at Balliol. His wife Clare was 

Mayor of Lambeth in 2000–1, and has 

since been appointed a Deputy 

Lieutenant of Greater London. 

1971 

Alasdair McKeane is currently 

working with Malvern Language Guides as publisher 

and author. He is also doing some teaching at The 

Chase, Malvern, some work as Chief Examiner for ‘a 

GCSE board’, and some training of teachers for 

Modern Languages Services and others. 

David Warren returned from 4¼ years in the 

British Embassy, Tokyo in 1998 for a home posting 

with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and is 

currently Director of the International Group in Trade 

Partners UK, the joint FCO/DTI trade and investment 

promotion organisation. 

Martin S. Alexander writes, ‘After seven years as 

Professor of Contemporary History and Politics at 

Salford University, I was appointed to a Chair in 

International Relations at the University of Wales, 

Aberystwyth, in September 2000. The move has seen 

a switch of view from gasworks and a six-lane highway 

outside my building to sunsets over Cardigan Bay and 

red kites! One thing that hasn’t changed is the quantity 

of rain—Manchester and West Wales score a deadheat 

in that contest! In the year I have heard from 

Exeter contemporaries Robin Marshall and Jim Hare 

(both PPE), the former with Chase Manhattan in the 

City, the latter living in Edinburgh. I have also had a 

card from Roman Cizdyn (Modern History) but have 

no current return address from him.’ 

Andrew Martin Smith has ‘retreated’ to London’s 

West End as Managing Director of a specialist US 

investment bank, Berkshire Capital, after 25 years in 

the City, mainly with Hambros Bank. That he is in 

touch with College is ‘an example,’ he comments, ‘of 

Peter Mieville’s tireless work [as a Year Group 

Volunteer] for Exeter’s Development Office!’ 

1973 

‘The move has seen a 

switch of view from 

gasworks and a sixlane 

highway outside 

my building to 

sunsets over 

Cardigan Bay and 

red kites!’ 

Jerry K.H. Wales reports that he is off for a year 

to Melbourne, March 2002 to April 2003, to study 

distance learning in medicine and treatment of 

adolescent eating disorders. He has a couple of new 

books published, and the ‘usual set of 

papers etc.!’ 

1981 

Rhodri Williams writes, ‘I am a 

linguist (French and Italian) turned lawyer, 

and currently practise at the Bar from 

chambers in Cardiff and London. I am 

married to Rachel and we have three 

children: Hannah (7), Rebeccah (4) and 

Matthew (1). From 1992 to 1997 we 

lived in Brussels, where I worked for the 

European Commission (combining 

languages and law). Hannah and Rebeccah were both 

born in Belgium. When Hannah reached school age 

we returned to live in Cardiff so that our children could 

benefit from Welsh language education.’ 

1983 

Mark Harmon Helmericks reminds us that he 

was a Rhodes Scholar from Harvard and Alaska, who 

read PPE and rowed and played rugby. He is currently 

President of Colville Inc., an American oil field services 

company. His activities include Arctic and polar 

exploration, and northern latitude travel by pontoon 

aeroplane. He has two children, Hollis and Ryan, seven 

year old twins. 

David Marriage is married with two small children. 

He moved back to England two years ago after periods 

working in Madrid and Paris. He is at present employed 

as a crude oil trader. 

Craig Shuttleworth is living in London. 


33

1984 

Rosalind Henwood (Kirby) writes, ‘I returned to 

Nepal with my husband, Dr Nicholas Henwood, and 

our two daughters Lydia (8) and Elizabeth (6) in 

November 2000. We are working with Médecins du 

Monde, setting up a TB and HIV/AIDS awareness 

and training programme in two districts in western 

Nepal. After nine months of negotiations we signed a 

5-year agreement with His Majesty’s Government of 

Nepal last August (2001) for this project. We hope 

that despite present political instability we will be able 

to continue to serve the poor in remote areas.’ 

Steven William Price writes, ‘I am married to Sue 

‘I have had to hang up my rugby boots, 

but not before playing for 

Nottinghamshire in 1996.’ 

and have two daughters, Hannah (7 years) and Frances 

(5 years). After graduating I spent two years working 

as an engineer for Electrolux in Durham. I have since 

trained to be a teacher and I am currently Head of 

Science at Nottingham High School for Girls. I have 

had to hang up my rugby boots, but not before playing 

for Nottinghamshire in 1996.’ 

1987 

Christopher D. Alafi is living in San Francisco. 

1996 

Peter Catalino is currently studying medicine at 

UCLA. He represented Oxford recently, rowing with 

OU Lightweights Rowing Club in Korea in July 2001, 

where they defeated Cambridge’s CULRC. He also 

rowed with the same Oxford club in Beijing in 

September last, losing to Yale’s heavyweight men, the 

eventual winners of the regatta. He was due to run in 

the Los Angeles marathon in spring 2002. 

Ned T. Sahin reports that he is continuing his 

PhD work at MIT in Cognitive Neuroscience. His 

Adviser is Steven Pinker. His work focuses on language, 

using FMRI to image brain activity corresponding to 

noun and verb morphological transformations. He 

recently visited Matt Addison in Nenagh, Ireland, 

where Matt is a process engineer for Procter & Gamble. 


CAREERS 

Thank you to the Old Members who have offered to give 

careers advice to current students. Fellows are generally happy 

to write references for former pupils. Please be aware, however, 

that other demands on Fellows’ time may entail delays; especially 

at the beginning and at the end of each term. Your former 

tutor can be contacted by letter or by email using the address 

Firstname.Lastname@exeter.ox.ac.uk. 

CHAPEL 

If you are planning to dine on a Sunday you are welcome to 

attend Sunday evensong in the Chapel. Please be seated by 6 

pm. 

CONTACTING OLD MEMBERS 

Part of the purpose of the Development Office is to revive 

contacts between old college friends. We will happily forward 

letters and, if permission has been granted, pass on contact 

details. If you are relocating we can let you know about 

Exonians living in your area. We would like to re-establish 

contact with a number of Old Members; please take a look at 

the List of the Lost accompanying this publication or on the 

website. 

DATABASE 

The College maintains a database of old members in 

accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act. If 

you wish to update your record please email / write to the 

Development Office or use the Update Form on the website. 

EXON, EXTRA AND THE REGISTER 

Submissions for these publications are most welcome. Ideally 

they should be sent as email attachments (in RTF or Word 

format); but we do accept printed copy. 

GIFTS AND LEGACIES 

More information on the various and tax-efficient 

opportunities for giving to Exeter College is available on the 

website or by writing to the Development Office. If you wish 

to make a large donation or a gift in kind then please write to 

the Director of Development. Gifts in kind or gifts such as 

paintings and antiques can present unforeseen complications 

in relation to administration, storage, insurance arrangements 

etc. The Director of Development would be happy to discuss 

these matters. 

GUEST ROOMS 

Exeter is not over-supplied with guest rooms. In order to 

avoid disappointment please book early by sending a letter or 

an email to the Steward: conferences@exeter.ox.ac.uk. A list 

of local hotels is available upon request. 

FREE HIGH TABLE MEALS 

Qualified Old Members may dine at High Table on one night 

during each term at the College's expense and on two other 

nights at their own expense (though wines must be paid for 

personally). Guest Nights are Wednesdays (lounge suit) and 

Sundays (black tie). Occasionally, some restrictions may apply 

and the Development Office will be pleased to advise. If you 

would like to book dinner, please email or write to the Butler: 

stephen.slade @exeter.ox.ac.uk 

EXINFO 

LECTURES 

As well as being lifelong 

members of Exeter, all 

Old Members also 

continue to be members 

of Oxford University. 

As such, they are all 

entitled and welcome to 

attend lectures in 

Oxford. There is a 

massive range of 

lectures offered, many 

given by worldrenowned 

figures. The 

best place to find out 

details of lectures is in the University Gazette. The easiest way 

to get hold of this is on the internet (http://info.ox.ac.uk/ 

gazette). If you do not have internet access, please make 

enquiries about subscribing to Ms M. Clements, Oxford 

University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP. 

The Development Office 

Exeter College 

Oxford, OX1 3DP 

Tel: 01865 279619 

Fax: 01865 279674 

development@exeter.ox.ac.uk 

www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/alumni 

LIBRARY 

Old Members are welcome to read in the Library; please phone 

the Sub-Librarian (01865 279600) to arrange entry. Degree 

holders are entitled to apply for a Bodleian reader’s card at 

nominal rates. Applications should be made to the 

Admissions Office, Bodleian Library, Broad Street, Oxford 

OX1 3BG. 

LIFETIME EMAIL ADDRESSES 

The university continues to explore the possibility of 

allocating lifetime emails to all current and former members. 

If this does not go ahead then Exeter College may provide 

this service. 

RECEPTIONS 

If you are willing to host an Old Member event do let us 

know. 

VISITING EXETER 

Old Members and their guests are welcome to visit the 

College. You are most welcome to pop in for a cup of tea at 

the Development Office (Palmer’s Tower 5). IMPORTANT - 

please identify yourself upon entry to the Porter. 

VOLUNTEERS 

College is extremely grateful for the commitment and 

generosity of the volunteer network. If you are interested in 

learning more about the volunteer programme please email 

or write to the Director of Development. 

WEBSITE 

As you might have gathered, Exeter has a website. The 

Development Office is particularly keen on using this medium 

for communication with Old Members. Feedback on this 

new facility would be much appreciated. The website can be 

found at http://www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/alumni. 


35

Don’t call us, we will.. 

Megan Shakeshaft (1998, Lit. Hum.) was part of our dedicated team of student callers this Summer. 

She reflects here on the experience 

Charlotte Lander (2000, Jurisprudence) c 

an Exonian 

Late night escapades in Broad Street, eccentricities of dons over the last half-century, 

Collections, battels, Exam Schools, rowing, parties, libraries… It seems that the wealth 

of opportunities and experiences we enjoy at Exeter has not changed much over the last century, 

as a group of JCR and MCR students learned in June. 

Sharing our common love of Exeter College and Oxford with alumni was one of the greatest 

attractions of the telephone campaign we joined this summer. Each of the student callers had the 

chance to find out about life at Exeter throughout the generations, with perhaps the most fascinating 

and poignant accounts given by Exonians of the war years. We all took away with us a wider 

appreciation of our college, beyond our own experiences. 


. 

hatting with 

I rather hope that those Old Members we called also put down the handset with the same 

heartwarming sense of mutual enthusiasm for Exeter. My own experience of leaving Exeter and 

Oxford is that the great fondness I feel for the college and its members grows whenever I reflect 

with others who share similar sentiments. One primary aim of the campaign was to support alumni 

by preserving and enhancing links between former members and the present students of the College. 

With an ever-increasing social round of events and range of benefits afforded by Exeter to Old 

Members, we were able to inform those alumni we contacted of current enterprises and projects. 

The other primary aim of the campaign was, of course, the inevitable fundraising. Forced, as 

so many other colleges and academic establishments, to raise more money to support students and 

maintain standards of excellence as far as possible, we naturally need to consider the successful 

fundraising methods of parallel American institutions and adopt them ourselves where appropriate. 

The relatively recent phenomenon of telephone fundraising is one such initiative, marking a new 

move in Exeter’s development strategy. Yet as we were soon to find out, the positive consequences 

of the scheme were even wider than we had hoped. 

Working for the Development Office as a post-Finals intern from the beginning of June, I was 

lucky enough to see both sides of the venture. From an early date, the College had been collaborating 

closely with a telephone fundraising consultancy, MacGregor Jones. The professional advice was a 

great boon, as we benefitted from Jeannie MacGregor’s seven years of experience running campaigns 

for schools and universities. The support in preparation involved drafting a pre-call letter with 

Mark Houghton-Berry (1976), the Chair of the Development Board, who also very generously 

pledged £5000 in support of the campaign, and a caller training pack. A team of callers had to be 

interviewed, selected and trained. I joined 15 other students for a training day run by Jeannie. 

Undergraduates and postgraduates together, we pondered the intricacies of telephone interaction 

and difficult calls, while Jeannie’s down-to-earth summary of the complexities of the tax system 

kept us all entertained. 

Back in the Development Office, we were frantically moving furniture from the top of Palmer’s 

Tower to the second floor. PT5 underwent a sudden and drastic transformation from office to call 

centre, as the consultancy brought in a plethora of head-sets, telephones, privacy booths, stationery, 

and a rather large collection of tasty goodies to keep the callers sweet. 

Calling began the very next day. After the introduction by the consultancy supervisor Matt, 

there was a somewhat sickening silence as each of us waited for another to make the first call. 

Somehow a telephone and an unknown voice at the other end of the line seemed rather daunting, 

despite our training only a day before. Matt Coates, our own intrepid Arctic explorer, was the first 

to leap in. The hubbub rose as one by one, the rest of us joined him. 

Our calls were nearly always welcomed. The pre-call letter had been sent out to the 1500- 

strong constituency, to introduce the campaign. Those who preferred not to be contacted could 

then remove their names from the register. Short of a few wrong numbers, we could be largely 

confident of a warm reception. Once the administrative details of checking and updating contact 

records were complete, we could listen to feedback concerning publications and events, and then 

chat about Exeter. A number of Old Members wrote back to those students who had called. In my 

own case, I have been fortunate enough to enjoy some correspondence at greater length. The 

response of alumni to the calls was positive almost without exception, and sometimes even deeply 

touching. 

The happy outcome of the campaign with regard to relations with Old Members was matched 

by the generosity shown in pledges. With specified pledges of £92,000 after the addition of Gift 

Aid, and unspecified pledges which we hope will bring the total raised to around £150,000, we were 

delighted with the results. Our participation rate has risen considerably. The College has been 

rather swamped with acknowledgement letters awaiting attention! 

For me, the telephone campaign has been a wonderful way to make the transition between 

current student and Old Member. Perhaps one day I too shall receive a call, and astonish another 

Exonian with the tales of my time at Exeter… 


37

Damian M. Taylor (2000, Jurisprudence) looks back on 

his first year at College 

BEAUTIFUL 

SOUTH 

My Exeter experience began to take shape on 

a balmy summer’s evening three years ago. 

The hazy images of a 16yr old placed Oxford 

at a distance ‘somewhere in the beautiful South’ as 

I left ambivalently for the college open day, waving the 

red brick chimneys of Lancashire goodbye from platform 

four of Preston station, taking my first unknowing 

steps towards the legendary spires. Soon the die 

was cast as the indefinable attractions of Exeter, once 

imperceptibly sensed, propelled me determinedly, almost 

pre-determinedly it seemed, through UCAS, interviews, 

A-levels and the rest, until suddenly I found 

myself in October 2000 standing in the porter’s lodge 

saying, 

“Damian Taylor, Fresher.” 

Term started early for me as I was invited to preseason 

soccer training with the Blues squad and, rather 

nervously, I joined the first session after one day of 

unpacking and reassuring my mother that I did know 

what a washing machine was and that I would 

remember to feed myself. 

Socially, Fresher’s week could have been blitzkrieg. 

The rapid onslaught of friendly but bewildering faces 

seemed never to stop as one function followed another. 

More worryingly, potential lifelong friends, colleagues 

and peers were likely to be around you now – and you 

had to find them. The lottery of life and friendship 

was being drawn in front of our own eyes, sometimes 

in unusual circumstances. It is, for example, not yet 

normal to walk through college in October dressed in 

a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, sunglasses and beach hat, 

casually carrying a pineapple, but this was the manner 

in which I met some of my best friends at the college 

‘beach party’. 

Oxford was rapidly becoming a gluttonous feast 

of sport and socialising, but soon a letter in my pigeonhole, 

warning of a forthcoming tutor’s meeting, brought 

me back to sober reality. The meeting was perfectly 

agreeable; being given a hefty reading list and two essays 

to do in a week’s time was less so. But learning to cope 


JGC Snicker 

with seemingly impossible workloads became a feature 

of Oxford life. And so, in time, the parties grew less 

frequent, people started to settle into groups, I met more 

people, forgot more people – and caught freshers’ flu. 

Before long, one term had passed and a new one 

had begun. Faster still approached Law Moderations, 

an unwelcome departure from the freedom to explore 

intricate issues at length in an essay or tutorial. Students 

stuffed facts into their heads at an alarming rate, intent 

that each one would tumble out in a neatly ordered 

answer. Two hundred or so budding lawyers trouped 

into examination schools clad in the traditional battle 

dress for a three hour examination paper in which a 

Roman soldier speared a cow and a chariot crushed 

some pedigree cattle – but no mention of foot and 

mouth! 

A welcome extra fortnight in Oxford at the start of 

the Easter vac to train for the varsity soccer match at 

Fulham on boat race day was enlivened by our special 

guest coach, Gianluca Vialli, then Chelsea’s manager. 

In his wake, unfortunately, came the hacks of Fleet 

Street, and enough rain to flood the newly laid pitch at 

Fulham, causing the postponement of the game. 

Disappointment turned to pleasure as, four weeks 

later, I returned to Oxford full of enthusiasm, the perils 

of Mods. behind me and a summer term with no exams 

ahead. The lateness of Easter Sunday meant that, as a 

member of the College Ball Committee, noughth week 

could be not long enough to prepare for the (obviously 

excellent) Ball on the Saturday. The following Friday, 

the rescheduled Varsity match came and went – 3-1 

(and two penalties) to Cambridge - enough said. 

Tennis then took over, both organising cuppers 

matches in college and playing for the Penguins. The 

winter’s incessant rain gave way to hot and sunny weather 

throughout the term and memories to treasure of tennis 

on immaculate grass courts, slow walks in the parks 

on hot afternoons and putting the world to rights sitting 

on Hall steps on a perfect evening. I even read some 

contract and tort and tried my hand at croquet (not 

necessarily in that order). 

It is clearly impossible to roll all my experiences into 

one account, tie them up and present them in a nicely 

ordered package. Life at Exeter doesn’t work like that. 

Friendships have developed, not suddenly happened. 

Experiences have accumulated, not come and gone. 

Work has been hard and required long hours but it has 

been one of the keenest pleasures to be pushed and 

tested by tutors genuinely interested in my ideas and 

(eventual!) academic development. 

It seems that life has been put under a magnifying 

glass for me and I have been given a taste of what 

is possible, in the most agreeable company and surroundings, 

so that as my first year ends, there is no 

doubt that I will be coming back enthusiastically for 

more. Much more. 


39


EXON - Autumn 2002 41 41

In this, the second of the series, Tom Knollys looks at the background to the successful telephone 

fundraising pilot campaign that took place in June 2002. 

Focus on Philanthropy 

T 

he first hand experience recounted by Megan Shakeshaft on page 36 makes 

clear that there is a lot to be gained, at many different levels, from such an 

exercise. These anticipated benefits were motivating factors in the decision to 

undertake the campaign, but of course the primary factor was fundraising. 

Telephone campaigns have become an increasingly popular way of 

encouraging support and participation in fundraising drives since the late 1980s. 

They provide a valuable way of communicating with a relatively small and specific 

target group of individuals. One of the great benefits of such communication is 

that where the constituency being targeted already has a relationship with the 

organisation there is the opportunity for dialogue and feedback about that relationship. 

Generally the revenue generated is significant, as is the response rate at around 50%, 

and there is a good record of renewal of gifts and reactivation of lapsed donors. 

Even where a ‘phone appeal elicits a ‘No’ there is often a more positive response at 

a later date. 

As is often the case in the charity sector and when known groups are being 

targeted, one of the preliminary tasks of a campaign is the sending of a letter to 

explain what is planned and to give the chance to opt out of the call list. Not only 

should this prepare the recipient for the call but it also underlines the idea that a 

‘phone campaign is more than just an easy option; it is a determined effort to 

communicate more directly and more attentively with prospective donors. Even 

so, there is the British aversion to and prejudice against the idea of ‘phone contact 

with strangers (and there is plenty of prejudice and aversion to the concept), largely 

resulting from the poor reputation of telemarketing. However the nature of the 

calling undertaken in the development office at Exeter was not only a far cry from 

that of the large, public companies that ‘cold call’ but also differed from the smallscale 

call centres that specialise in charity fundraising. 

The most critical difference was the employment of current Exonians to 

make calls. Colleges and universities generally have realised the benefits of being 

able to employ current students over ‘professional’ callers. The latter, no matter 

how skilful their conversational techniques or how well briefed, would never be 

able to compete with the personal experience of those living and studying at 

Exeter, as those they are calling did before them. Other organisations, such as 

theatres, galleries or museums, running campaigns to raise funds from patrons, 

members or visitors, must be wary of engaging their constituency in conversation 

with someone who, while purporting to be phoning from the said organisation, 

may at best only have paid it a fleeting visit. The interaction will inevitably be weaker 

and often simple comments or questions will have to be passed back to the 

organisation to react to. 

Unlike a mailing campaign, a ‘phone call will usually result in an ongoing 

correspondence. Those willing to consider a donation will of course be sent a 

follow up letter and a donation form, but many will take the opportunity to ask for 

other information (the office is currently trying to cope with a long list of special 

requests); perhaps back copies of publications, details of forthcoming events or 

information on admissions. Some of those called follow up the conversation 

themselves and experience at other colleges includes Old Members searching out 

those who called them at college events. The organisation learns from the experience 

and the recipient of the call will feel that they have had a chance to be listened to. It 

is also an excellent opportunity for increasing interaction and for guaranteeing that 

contact information is correct – that in itself can save money and ensure that we are 

as efficient as we can be in our communication with Old Members. 

Patrick Heinecke (1959, Modern languages) 

tells how his teaching career led 

to a remote village in West Africa. 

My educational work in Africa 

began in 1973 when I went 

to Nigeria as a university 

lecturer in public administration. 

Fifteen years later, as Nigeria 

degenerated into military dictatorship, 

I returned to England. Shortly 

afterwards I was invited to Ghana 

where Richard Alandu, one of my 

Ghanaian ex-students, was working as 

a teacher in the economically and 

educationally deprived north. 

What struck me about the north 

was emptiness and underpopulation. 

We travelled for miles across beautiful 

green countryside studded with 

occasional baobab trees and inselbergs 

without seeing any human 

settlements. Ghana’s human resources 

drain from this labour reservoir into a 

few grossly overpopulated metropoles 

in the south, particularly on the coast. 

Richard’s village is Sandema with a 

population of under two thousand. It 

has become my second home. Life 

there is hard and harsh, particularly for 

women. Their working day may start 

as early as 4am with laborious 

processing of groundnuts and shea 

nuts to extract the oils. 

The climate has considerable 

extremes. Temperatures range from 5 

to 40 degrees Celsius. A long dry 

season heavily influenced by the 

Sahara’s dusty wind is punctuated by 

a short rainy season which peaks 

between June and September. Rains 

may be so heavy as to destroy houses 

and farms, and disrupt 

communications. Most houses are 

Continued on page 44 


Dinner for two at Exeter High Table 

is the prize for the first correct entry 

pulled from a hat. Please send your 

entries to Mr Ashley Coombes, Exeter 

College, Oxford, England OX1 3DP. The 

winner of Crossword 1 was Mr J W 

McKeown (1966, Jursiprudence ) 

Name: __________________ 

_ 

Matriculation year: ____________ 

Email address: _______________ 

Address: ____________________ 

___________________________ 

Postcode: ___________________ 

Telephone number:____________ 

DOWN 

PRIZE CROSSWORD 2 

compiled by Ashley Coombes 

ACROSS 

1 Exeter 1st VIII at last 

are moving clear (8) 

6 Strains to get into University? 

Pessimistic about it (5) 

9 University College (for example) (6,9) 

10 Inferior Fellow Principal of Reading 

University next term (4) 

11 St. Anne's first Pembroke (for example) 

second it can be said (8) 

14 I'm name on University.com 

revision service (9) 

15 Steward requires some degree 

verification (5) 

16 Hat to pep-up young Afghan 

going to first Encaenia (5) 

18 Reconstitution to a scale 

in Student Unions (9) 

20 Calculate T-E+50 ¸ to get 

University place overseas (8) 

21 Small perversion? German 

University in hush up (4) 

25 Brasenose Lane (for example) (15) 

26 Mistake in the economics paper? (5) 

27 St. John's flower borders, single 

flower displayed (9) 

1 Trinity (for example) renovation 

does not matter (5) 

2 Investigation by newspaper 

over University mark (7) 

3 Study English at Principal's 

garden (4) 

4 A Oxford college once again (4) 

5 Nutty short examination, all 

graduated triumphantly! (10) 

6 Keble (for example) essay on Unitarian 

has section missing (10) 

7 Accommodating pious student 

is inadequate (7) 

8 Faculty without double meaning (9) 

12 Official exchange rate a 

University curb (10) 

13 Dire second choice a University? 

It's dross! (10) 

14 Teach Catholic? It's unethical 

for this religious tutor (9) 

17 Head allowed in board 

with hole in... (7) 

19 ... to oldest Oxford college, 

blame faulty instrument (7) 

22 Magnitude of a high degree? (5) 

23 Too institutional? Somerville 

(for example) included (4) 

24 A fiend set Prelims for Oxford 

graduates reading English! 


43

T 

H 

E 

N 

E 

V 

I 

L 

L 

C 

O 

G 

H 

I 

L 

L 

Heather Clark and Martin 

Starkie (1945, English) 

The Nevill Coghill Poetry Prize 2002 

The Development Office, Exeter College, is pleased to 

announce that the winner of this year’s Nevill Coghill Poetry 

Prize is 

HEATHER CLARK, LINCOLN COLLEGE 

for her poem “Under the Raft” 

The judges, poets Martin Starkie, John Fuller and Dr David 

Hartnett also commended: 

Sarah Hesketh, Merton College, “Something To 

Show For It” 

Robin William Knight, St Edmund Hall, “The 

Banyan Tree” 

Hannah Langworth, University College, 

“Proxima Centauri”. 

Dr Robin Knight is a lecturer in Mathematics, and Sarah 

Hesketh and Hannah Langworth are both undergraduate 

students in English. Heather Clark was presented with a 

cheque for £500 at the prize-winner’s reception 

POETRY PRIZE 

built of sun-baked earth blocks. 

Much of the dry season is spent 

rebuilding and repairing houses. 

But drought is a constant threat. 

The staple crops such as millet 

and guineacorn may wither and 

die due to patchy and insufficient 

rainfall. Towards the end of the 

dry season many wells dry up and 

some people resort to scooping 

brackish water from holes dug in 

dried riverbeds. Others walk miles 

in search of water or firewood. 

Food is simple and 

nutritious. Local specialities are 

Bambara bean fritters, 

guineafowl stewed in groundnut 

soup, and smoked fish in 

mushroom soup. There is a 

seasonal abundance of exquisitely 

flavoured mangoes and 

sweetsops. During my six 

months in the village I neither saw 

nor heard an aeroplane. Motor 

vehicles are something of a rarity. 

The air is so limpid that on a 

moonless, cloudless night, 

starlight is bright enough to guide 

one’s steps. Peace and calm are 

occasionally interrupted by a 

band of drummers and flautists 

parading through the village. 

Sandema is dominated by a 

grand old man, His Royal 

Highness Ayieta Azantinlowe, the 

paramount chief and spiritual 

father of his people. He adheres 

to the traditional animist religion, 

is blind and enjoys talking with 

me for hours on end about his 

experiences, hopes, and 

disappointments. Born in 1902 

just before the British army 

invaded the area, he became 

chief in 1934. He is probably the 

longest serving chief in Ghana 

and he was the only one to attend 

the coronation of Queen 

Elizabeth II. His life spans nearly 

a century of profound, 

devastating transformations in 

the economy and society. He 


opens his heart to me, lamenting 

the decline of his area and its 

people: deforestation, epidemic 

cerebrospinal meningitis, 

destruction of wildlife, 

depopulation, reduced rainfall, 

soil degradation, malnutrition, 

increased crime, alcoholism, 

breaking of family ties, girls being 

only 20% of schoolchildren, many 

schools on the verge of collapse. 

I was shown children 

attending a state primary school 

the roof of which was blown off 

years ago and never replaced; 

some of the walls had collapsed; 

there were no doors or windows, 

only gaping holes; some of the 

children brought their own desks 

or chairs from home and carried 

them back in the evening. 

Teachers’ salaries had not been 

paid for many months. And, insult 

upon injury, the pupils are charged 

school fees, non-payment of 

which results in their being sent 

home! 

That is the plight of many 

schools in Ghana, a country of 

unlimited gold, hailed by the 

world’s leading banks as a ‘model 

of successful development’. 

From our discussions with the 

chief emerged the idea of a 

multipurpose educational 

resource centre with its own farm 

and woodlot. Run by the villagers 

themselves, the centre will 

provide practical training in 

agriculture, craft skills, health and 

environmental conservation; and 

remedial education in English, 

mathematics and 

science. The aim is 

to enable people 

with limited 

resources to 

develop innovative 

skills that give them 

greater control of 

their lives, 

counteract the drift 

to the cities and 

offer new means of 

livelihood in the village, especially 

for women. We will not change 

the world, but they may change 

theirs. 

In 1993 a two-hectare plot 

was allocated for the project and 

over 100 trees were planted in the 

area. The next year, in the 

presence of elders, a libation of 

gin was solemnly poured to seek 

the blessings and protection of the 

living spirits of the ancestors. 

Work then began on laying the 

school’s foundations. I personally 

supervised the early stages of 

construction which were 

financed from my own 

savings. They soon dried up. 

So in 1997 our charity was 

formed as a trust registered 

with the Charity 

Commission of England 

and Wales. 

Since then over £20,000, 

mostly in small amounts, 

and two thousand books, 

have been donated by 

individuals. In July 1999 

sixty teenagers, two thirds of 

them girls, began classes in 

English, mathematics, science, 

economics, history and 

government. No school fees are 

charged apart from a 20p 

registration fee. The school 

buildings are nearly completed. 

Our charity has a governing 

body of five trustees, three of 

whom are Ghanaian, and we work 

in partnership with a Ghanaian 

non-governmental organisation 

registered with and monitored by 

the Ghanaian government. 

Richard Alandu, one of its 

directors, is in charge of the 

project, including teaching. He is 

a paragon of dedication, hard 

work and honesty. Apart from the 

school caretaker and four parttime 

teachers, all those working 

on the project both in the U.K. 

and Ghana are unpaid volunteers. 

We aim to make the school 

a well resourced, dynamic and 

eventually self-reliant institution 

with well motivated teachers and 

trainers. One of the school’s 

challenges will be to continue 

providing free education and 

training while reducing 

dependence on the U.K. But for 

the immediate future funds from 

the parent body will continue to 

be necessary. A £30 donation will 

pay a teacher’s salary for a month. 

A £100 donation will enable the 

charity to claim another £30 from 

the Inland Revenue. 

Charity begins at home. 

Hopefully it does not end there! 

Our account is: 

Sandema Educational Resource 

Centre, Abbey National plc 

Sort Code 09-00-00 

Account number 0005 0005 XI 

1735913 SAN 

Our registered address is 27 

Meadow Garth, Stonebridge, 

London NW10 OSP. 


45

EXETER WEDDIN 

MATTHEW PRESTON & NURIA 

CAPDEVILA-ARGUELLES 

OLD MEMBERS MARRYING 

AT EXETER IN 2002 

Oliver Pooley (British 

Academy Fellow) & Helen 

Thomas 

23 March 

Miranda Allen & Rory Elliott 

6 July 

Guy Wolf & Teresa Yaeger 

20 July 

OLIVER 

POOLEY 

& 

HELEN 

THOMAS 

Matthew Fitton & Polyanna 

Orr 

24 August 

Matthew Preston & Nuria 

Capdevila-Arguelles 

17 August (in Leon) 

David Leeks & Winda 

31 August 

MATTHEW FITTON 

& POLLYANNA ORR 

Jonathan Ramsden & Anna 

Waldthausen 

31 August 

46 EXON -- Autumn 2002 2002 

46

G ALBUM 2002 

MIRANDA ALLEN 

& RORY ELLIOTT 

GUY WOLF & 

TERESA YAEGER 

EXON -- Autumn 2002 2002 

47

Exeter 

College 

Old Member Events 

Saturday 26 October 

Development Board Meeting 

Saturday 23 November (tbc) 

Rector’s Musical Evening 

Followed by supper. £17.50 per head. 

Sunday 1 December 

Advent Carol Service 

Friday 6 December 

Christmas Carol Service 

2003 Gaudies 

11 January (1996 – 1998) 

28 June (1965 - 1969) 

28 February 

John Fortescue Dinner (Law Society) 

For those who read or are currently practising 

law. £45 per head. 

Friday 11 April 

Inter-collegiate Golf Tournament 

Canon Robin Ewbank won the afternoon 4somes with 

David Filkin 

good company, generous prizes and much kudos 

for the college. A very prestigious dinner at one 

of the Oxford colleges completes the day in the 

presence of many eminences grises as well as fellow 

golfers. So come on Exonians and sign on now!” 

16 May 

John Ford Society Dinner (Drama Society) 

£45 per head 

31 May 

Exeter College Association Lunch & Garden 

Party 

(families welcome) £15 adults, children £5. 

Boat Club Association Dinner 

£45 per head 

15 June 

Commemoration of Benefactors 

Individual invitations will be sent out 

4 July 

Dinner for Rhodes Scholars 

All former Exeter Rhodes Scholars and their partners 

are invited to attend. £45 per head 

25 September 

Exeter College Association Golf Match 

26 September 

Exeter College Association Dinner 

Old Members celebrating their 50th and 51st anniversaries 

since matriculation in 1952 and 1953 

are especially encouraged to attend. £45 per head 

18 October 

Retirement dinner 

In honour of Professor Jim Hiddleston. Individual 

invitations will be sent out in due course 

31 October 

PPE Alumni dinner 

£45 per head 

7 November 

Physics Alumni Dinner 

£45 per head 

The inter-collegiate golf tournament will be held 

at Frilford Heath Golf Club. The team captain, 

Canon Robin Ewbank (1961, Physics ), states, “We 

need a team of at least ten players who can play 

golf to a handicap of 28 or less. We would be very 

interested in the higher handicap players who are 

reasonably consistent to their handicap. Although 

not cheap, the day includes golf at Frilford Heath, 

15 November 

Rector’s Musical Evening 

23 November 

Advent Carol Service 

28 November 

Christmas Carol Service 

EVENTS INFORMATION AND BOOKING 

CONTACT NICOLA PULMAN: +44 01865 279620; FAX: +44 1865 279674; NICOLA.PULMAN@EXETER.OX.AC.UK

2002 - Exeter College - University of Oxford

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